The Failed Theory of GDP (per capita) and Superiority

I followed the sense of Mitt's on R-money's statements about cultural superiority.

I suspect that, like his close ties to birther Donald Trump is just more dog whistling for the right wing racists.

But having read books on the topic of culture and relative dominance, like Jared Diamond's excellent work Guns Germs and Steel, and having done some comparisons between our own red states and blue states here in the U.S., where red states are frequently less successful than blue states in important metrics - like health care and insured populations, prison populations, number of innocent people executed, education standards, etc.

So it was not a surprise to me to see this in an article over on the HuffPo where Diamond asserts Mitts on R-money doesn't understand his book:

Scientist and author Jared Diamond said that Mitt Romney mischaracterized his book, "Guns, Germs and Steel," to theorize why Israelis and Palestinians have such vastly different levels of economic development at a fundraiser in Jerusalem Sunday.

and

"That is so different from what my book actually says that I have to doubt whether Mr. Romney read it," he wrote in The New York Times on Tuesday. He also said that he focused mostly on "biological features" and there was no mention about iron ore in the book.

He said that the other author Romney cited, Harvard economist David Landes, would find Romney's thesis that culture accounts for economic differences "dangerously out of date."

I would strongly encourage all of our Penigma readers to read the Diamond book; it is excellent.  There is a pbs television series made of it as well.  I'm not as familiar with the David Landes work, but what little I do know agrees that R-money didn't get that right either.

And it wasn't a surprise to see that over on the Daily Kos, someone put up a list comparing how poorly red states do when contrasted to blue states.  There is a similar pattern if you look at the U.S., and compare us to those developed countries which are much more successful through mixed capitalism / socialism based economies.  The more laissez-faire / 'pure' (hardly - mostly very dirty) capitalism, the less successful we have been as a nation.  The years when we have had more, not less government have been our most productive and our most successful, not only economically but by other metrics.

Here is the list of successful blue states and failed red states, with the Kos post noted are trending for R-money and more failure:

The 2010 US Census data shows that most of the poorest states are red states. In fact, 14 of the 15 states with the lowest per capita income are states which Romney is currently counting in his win column:

RANK R/D STATE INCOME

1 D Connecticut $56,001.00

2 D Massachusetts $51,552.00

3 D New Jersey $50,781.00

4 D Maryland $49,025.00

5 D New York $48,821.00
--------------
36 R Georgia $35,490.00

37 R Montana $35,317.00

38 R Tennessee $35,307.00

39 R Arizona $34,999.00

40 R Indiana $34,943.00

41 R Alabama $33,945.00

42 R South Dakota $33,865.00

43 D New Mexico $33,837.00

44 R Kentucky $33,348.00

45 R South Carolina $33,163.00

46 R Arkansas $33,150.00

47 R West Virginia $32,641.00

48 R Utah $32,595.00

49 R Idaho $32,257.00

50 R Mississippi $31,186.00

R-money's comments will play well to the we are white Anglo-Saxon / western European crowd, the one that is beloved by the bigoted white supremacists and anti-cultural diversity groups that frequent CPAC.  They do not reflect the views of a man who genuinely would try to be the president to a nation that is comprised of immigrants from the entire world.  Those views represent the position of someone who would show tremendous preferential treatment to those like him, and disfavor those he perceives as not like himself.  That is the last thing this nation, or the world, needs; it would be a disaster.