Capitalist Phil Suggests America Look To Communist China For Job Growth Inspiration!
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It was one of those moments you watch and think, why am I watching the Golf Channel tag along with Barclays CEO Bob Diamond and Five Guys franchisee Phil Mickelson as they bumped fists with the Charlie Foxes of the world staring at their stock monitors and in general, sell you on the wonders of this week's sponsor.
But after Diamond shared some very positive and in no way offensive corporatespeak about where Barclays sees the American economy headed, Phil asked Kelly Tilghman if he could add a point while Diamond looked at the carpet thinking ("oh no, he might repeat my rant from the helicopter ride over here earlier"). The three-time Masters Champion then began to complain that 47% of American labor works for the government while only 53% actually contributed to the growth in the economy. And then he dug a little deeper and pointed to China--you know, that place where the Internet is monitored by 30,000 government workers and people are told how many children they can have--as place for America to look for private sector growth inspiration.
Sadly, Golf Channel opted not to post the segment online. But I smell a possible repeat airing over the next four days. Check your local listings!
****Mercifully, Golf Central replayed the segment. Watching it again, Bob Diamond, CEO of Barclays was upbeat and reassuring about where he sees things headed without really saying anything too bold.
So after CEO Diamond works through his pro-am party talking points, Phil cuts in and Kelly Tilghman looks at her cards to see if this was part of the script. Phil...
"I'd like to add one more thing to that jobs thing or to the economy. You know, our jobs here in the United States, 47% of our jobs are government jobs, they cost us money. Whereas only 53% are producing money to help us grow out of this economic downturn. Whereas other countries, you take a look at China, 90% of their jobs are contributing to the government, only 10% are government jobs. Until we get private business job opportunities where we are raising money for the government, and really helping unemployment in that area, it really isn't going to make much of a difference."
Phil looks to CEO Diamond…
"What do you think about that?"
Diamond: "I think that's absolutely right. Getting economic growth, creating jobs and opportunities here in the US, will be so big for confidence."
Kelly, back in the on-site studio: "How about Mickelson? Lefty for president!"
