In terms of private sector experience, the cupboard is bare within President Obama’s Cabinet. Take the following graphic with a grain of salt. It came from a recent JP Morgan report in which I cannot vouch for the author’s research practices, or ideology. The author took all presidential administrations since 1900, looking at the private sector experience of 432 Cabinet secretaries whose activities touch most on the private sector. Here are the findings:

The Group of 20 (G20) met in Scotland over the weekend, bringing together central bankers and financiers of nineteen countries, and the European Union (EU). The collection of nations constitute 80% of world trade and two-thirds of the world’s population. (1) Discussions of “re-balancing” the world economy have taken place over the last few months by members of the G20; those sentiments continued this weekend in St. Andrews, but apparently only in general terms. (2)

Economically, destroying perfectly drivable cars which have value, particularly during a recession, makes little sense. The United States is a country where jobs continue to be shed, real incomes have been on a downward slide since late 2006, people are in debt up to their eyeballs and savings rates leave much to be desired. Asking people to consume and take on more debt makes little sense. That is, until one remembers the economy is based on 70% consumption. Then, it makes perfect sense.

But if the economy doesn’t turnaround in a meaningful way by the end of President Obama’s first term, what is the next move for central planners? Just when you think they’ve ran out of bullets, they pull out a golden gun. Could the next move be a nudge towards a cashless society? Whispers of such an about-face have turned into legitimate policy debates in Japan. The total shift to electronic money would be designed, and sold to the Japanese people, as a way to fight the deflationary spiral they’ve battled for a decade plus (coined “the lost decade”). Nothing scares the central bankers more than deflation. And nothing works better to push through policy than fear. Americans have learned all about fear mongering through both the Bush and Obama administrations.

Milton Friedman is interviewed by Phil Donahue about the “downfalls” of capitalism and free markets. Friedman didn’t see eye to eye.