Are you smarter than W Bush?
Self-identified conservatives do badly on questions of basic economics


Who is better informed about the policy choices facing the country - conservatives and libertarians or progressives and liberals? According to a new study conducted by the prestigious KMTC Institute for Policy Studies the answer is unequivocal: the Right flunks Econ 101.

KMTC researcher Margaret and I considered the 4,835 respondents' (all American adults) answers to seven survey questions about basic economics. We also asked the respondents about their political leanings: progressive/very liberal; liberal; moderate; conservative; very conservative; and libertarian.

Rather than focusing on whether respondents answered a question correctly, we instead looked at whether they answered incorrectly. A response was counted as incorrect only if it was flatly unenlightened.

Consider one of the economic propositions in the KMTC December 2008 poll: "Restrictions on housing development make housing less affordable." People were asked if they: 1) strongly agree; 2) somewhat agree; 3) somewhat disagree; 4) strongly disagree; 5) are not sure.

Basic economics states that restrictions on housing development have no effect on prices whatsoever and, further, basic economic theory states that to calculate the real price of anything the social and environmental costs must be factored in - price is not simply what the market will bear. Thus, the unenlightened answer to our question is: agree. There are no exceptions to the general case.

This year we asked our respondents if they agreed or disagreed with these simple econ 101 economic truths:
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1.) The Kennedy, Reagan and W Bush tax cuts have destroyed the economy and brought about the worst recession since the Great Depression. (unenlightened answer: disagree)

2.) Obama's Stimulus package isn't working as planned because W Bush destroyed the economy worse than experts thought. (unenlightened answer: disagree)

3.) Capitalism is an economic and social system based on the idea that the strong should dominate the weak. (unenlightened answer: disagree)

4.) Rich people get rich by being dishonest and stealing other people's wealth. (unenlightened answer: disagree)

5.) W Bush's imperialist wars for oil were based on classical capitalism theories of hegemony and profits before people. (unenlightened answer: disagree)

6.) The price of gas at the pump is controlled by orders from Dick Cheney. (unenlightened answer: disagree)

7.) W Bush and everyone from his administration should be tried, convicted and shot. (unenlightened answer: disagree)

How did the ideological groups do? Those that self-identified as Progressive and Liberal agreed with every one of the basic economic propositions and thus received a score of none wrong - 0. The self-identified Moderates as a group received a score of 2.2 - meaning they averaged as a group 2.2 wrong unenlightened answers. Now, for the kicker. The self-identified conservatives and libertarians answered every single one of the basic economic question in a wrong and unenlightened manner thus receiving a whopping score of 7.0 - the highest possible score for wrong unenlightened answers!

Karl Marx described political economy as "a branch of the science of socialism and revolution." Governmental power joined with wrongheadedness is something terrible, but all too common. Realizing that many of our leaders and their constituents are economically unenlightened sheds light on the troubles that surround us.

Of course I'm smarter than George W. Bush! Why, I'm so much smarter than he is that I don't even need to take a test. Just seal my records and kick me up to the next higher office.

The question isn't if one is smarter than Bush, because chances are very good that one is. The real question we must put to the masses--the one that will help us separate the informed and open-minded from the teabagging yokels who can't even pick their own noses without detailed instructions from talk radio--is whether one is dumber than Bush.

In fact, that could be the basis of a whole new reality game show: "Are You Dumber Than Dumbya?"

Categories would include not only economics, but science: You'll find that conservatives can't even give a correct answer to the simplest of all science questions, i.e., "Who causes global warming?"

Literature: Did you see that story on the news recently, about the disclaimer a publisher has attached to the U.S. Constitution? Comrades, that is the ultimate dumbing-down and we have stupid conservatives to thank for it. Why, they're so stupid, they think the Constitution is based on a true story.

Arts: It's hilarious to watch how conservatives get this so screwed up with religion. They see nothing wrong with a cartoon of Mohammad, but drop a crucifix into a jar of pee and next thing you know, the Christians are bombing abortion clinics, flying airplanes into IRS buildings, and shooting up high schools and post offices in retaliation.

History: Don't even get me started on this. It's bad enough I went to grade school at a time when they shoved right wing revisionism down kids' throats. They taught me Columbus sailed west to America hoping to find--get this--a shorter route to the East. Well, that's just stupid. How do you expect to find a shorter route to the East by sailing WEST? But that's the conservative way for you. Fortunately, once the unions took over the public school system, we finally learned the truth--since they'd just driven the Moors out of Spain, they needed some new people of color to enslave and annihilate with white European diseases and Christofascist justice, so they sent Columbus to find them, and got Big Spice and Big Silk to fund it and thus hide their true, insidious agenda.

Why, I'm so smart, I figured that out all by myself.