Difference between revisions of "Politicizing Metrics 101"

Revision as of 17:13, 22 June 2014

Metrics are a set of measurements that quantify results. Good management requires good decisions and good decisions must be based on good metrics.

• The starting point for understanding big government is understanding the fundamentals of the role of metrics in organizational management, thus providing insight into the role that it plays in governing.
• Start with the most straightforward case – commercial corporations
  • Investors provide their money in order to get a return on investment. The fundamental metric is ROI. It’s a very precise metric – accurate and understood by all. If it begins to underperform, managers lose their jobs. With no improvement. The CEOs lose their jobs. If no improvement after that the board of directors is voted out by the stockholders – they lose their jobs. If that doesn’t result in improvement. The corporation goes into bankruptcy and everyone’s job is at risk. So basically everyone’s livelihood is linked to an exact mathematical metric. The management process at the lower levels uses lots of secondary metrics that are indicators of how things are going and managers frequently use those metrics to promote their self-interests, but to the extent that their behavior damages ROI, they’re in trouble.

There is no ROI-equivalent fundamental management metric for government. But it has a huge array of secondary metrics. In the political side of government – as opposed to civil service – one’s livelihood is dependent upon getting votes, so the secondary metrics that exists are manipulated and selected to optimize getting elected. The most obvious example is the unemployment. If your party is in power, you use the lower U3 rate as the metric. If your party is not in power use the higher U6 unemployment rate. U-3 is the official unemployment rate, which is the proportion of the civilian labor force that is unemployed but actively seeking employment.

U-6 unemployment rate counts not only people without work seeking full-time employment (the more familiar U-3 rate), but also counts “marginally attached workers” and those working part-time for economic reasons.

Their recent history can be seen here:

U-3 Rate

U-6 Rate

You can count on every candidate for office to optimize his or her use of the government’s huge supply of metrics to get elected. Here are a few of the many ways that it is done:

Campaign financing

“Campaign finance in the United States is the financing of electoral campaigns at the federal, state, and local levels. At the federal level, campaign finance law is enacted by Congress and enforced by the Federal Election Commission (FEC), an independent federal agency. Although most campaign spending is privately financed, public financing is available for qualifying candidates for President of the United States during both the primaries and the general election. Eligibility requirements must be fulfilled to qualify for a government subsidy, and those that do accept government funding are usually subject to spending limits on money.

Races for non-federal offices are governed by state and local law. Over half the states allow some level of corporate and union contributions. Some states have limits on contributions from individuals that are lower than the national limits, while four states (Missouri, Oregon, Utah and Virginia) have no limits at all.[1] This article deals primarily with campaigns for federal office.”

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Campaign_finance_in_the_United_States

For a deeper understanding, try these links

• 1 Campaign finance numbers
• 2 Sources of campaign funding
  • 2.1 Federal contribution limits
  • 2.2 Bundling
  • 2.3 Lobbying
• 3 Spending by outside organizations
  • 3.1 Political action committees
  • 3.2 501(c)(4) organizations
  • 3.3 527 organizations
  • 3.4 Political parties

Politicians manipulate the governing system in many ways, in order to gain political support. Here are two of the most widely discussed:

Loopholes

“A loophole is an ambiguity in a system, such as a law or security, which can be used to circumvent or otherwise avoid the intent, implied or explicitly stated, of the system. Loopholes are searched for and used strategically in a variety of circumstances, including taxes, elections, politics, the criminal justice system, or in breaches of security, or a response to one's civil liberties.”

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loophole

Earmarks

“An earmark is a legislative (especially congressional) provision that directs approved funds to be spent on specific projects, or that directs specific exemptions from taxes or mandated fees.[1] The term "earmark" is used in this sense in several countries, such as the United States and South Africa.[2]

Earmarks come in two varieties: Hard earmarks, or "hardmarks", found in legislation, and soft earmarks, or "softmarks", found in the text of congressional committee reports. Hard earmarks are legally binding, whereas soft earmarks are not but are customarily acted upon as if they were.[3] Typically, a legislator seeks to insert earmarks that direct a specified amount of money to a particular organization or project in their home state or district.” http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earmark_(politics)

Since there is no fundamental metric for government effectiveness, nor for the performance of individual politicians, politicians are free to manipulate the system and the information. And the sad truth is, they do so for their own benefit to the great detriment of the people.

This means doing what your big contributors want done. This is not a new thing – what’s new is the amount of dollars involved and it has become a huge problem.

Here are some quotes from the past and some recent campaign finance dollars that will provide further insight.

“We hang the petty thieves and appoint the great ones to public office.” –Aesop/about 600 BC

“Just because you do not take an interest in politics doesn't mean politics won't take an interest in you!” –Pericles (430 B.C.)

“In general, the art of government consists of taking as much money as possible from one class of citizens to give to another.” –Voltaire (1764)

“In my many years I have come to a conclusion that one useless man  is a shame, two is a law firm, and three or more is a congress.” –John Adams/about 1800

“Government is the great fiction, through which everybody endeavors to live at the expense of everybody else.” –Frederic Bastiat, French economist/1801-1850

“No man's life, liberty, or property is safe while the legislature is in session.” –Mark Twain (1866)

“A government which robs Peter to pay Paul can always depend on the support of Paul.” –George Bernard Shaw/early 1900s

The 2012 presidential election was the most expensive in history. (Updated: Dec. 7, 2012.)
Democrats & Barack Obama raised $1.20 billion
Republicans & Mitt Romney raised $1.18 billion

The top contributor gave $30 million and 10 others gave 3 million or more each.

According to CRP’s new analysis of Federal Election Commission data, this election will likely cost $6 billion.

“In the new campaign finance landscape post-Citizens United, we’re seeing historic spending levels spurred by outside groups dominated by a small number of individuals and organizations making exceptional contributions,” said Sheila Krumholz, executive director of the Center for Responsive Politics.

House and Senate candidates combined will spend about $1.82 billion.

What remains unknown — and may never fully be accounted for — is how much money secretive “shadow money” organizations spent, with some investing massive sums on ads, but also on unreported and purportedly “non-political” activities, as the election neared. It may take years to determine how much they spent. Furthermore, it likely will never be known who provided the vast majority of this money, which includes at least $203 million in the last two months.

https://www.opensecrets.org/news/2012/10/2012-election-spending-will-reach-6/

So, with only faulty metrics and the media filled with political misinformation, what can be done to make the future better? Thankfully, the power is still in the hands of the people – if we can just get the political momentum to change things. And how do we do that, by developing a good understanding of the issues most important to your future and of the options being considered for each. Make sure your vote reflects an informed decision on your part. Better to not vote than to vote in a way that would threaten your future and that of your country.