Mark Neumann wants to take Economic Stupidity to U.S. Senate.

Mark Neumann is another one of those millionaire “citizen legislators.” He’s a business man, and as such, knows money inside and out. He’ll bring that business expertise to government.

Problem is, he’s either dumb as a board, or is knowingly lying about finance and his business acumen. According to the headline in Politifact:

If the U.S. didn't borrow $1.2 trillion every year "to fund government operations," that money would be available "for entrepreneurs and business people to put to work creating jobs and building and expanding their businesses." Mark Neumann on Wednesday, June 13th, 2012 in an interview

Keep in mind: Neumann has been in state politics for years, and he liked the freeloading Republican lifestyle of doing nothing hard as lawmakers so much, he wants to do nothing in the U.S. Senate.

   

Since I hate Politifact so much, I’m only going to showcase the economic expert’s opinion of Neumann’s claim to fame about taking his economic business experience to Washington.

Neumann wasn’t shy about putting his stupidity on display:

Neumann: "They (fed) are borrowing that money and that's the point exactly. If they did not borrow that money, that money would be available out here in the private sector for entrepreneurs and business people to put to work creating jobs and building and expanding their businesses.

"As it is -- and listen, I'm a business owner myself, I've been in business for 35 years here in Wisconsin creating Wisconsin jobs -- and the reality is, I understand that I'm now competing against the federal government to borrow money to expand our businesses. We just expanded into the Madison market to the Dane County area with our business and it was a monumental task to arrange the financing to do that because the federal government is taking $1.2 trillion first, before any of us entrepreneurs get to compete to borrow money."

Wrong!!! But hey, he’s a business man and a citizen legislature, say it ain’t so:

"The U.S. government and American entrepreneurs are not running after the same pool of money," said Abdur Chowdhury, chairman of the economics department at Marquette University in Milwaukee. The U.S. borrows largely from overseas -- by selling securities -- while domestic businesses borrow mostly from domestic banks, he said.

That wasn't the only economic expert to trash Neumann:

The notion that the amount of federal borrowing limits money available to be loaned to businesses "is absurd on its face," said Dean Baker, co-director of the liberal Center for Economic and Policy Research in Washington. "Every single measure of the interest rate (Aaa bonds, Baa bonds, mortgage loans, car loans etc.) is lower today than at any point in the (George W.) Bush administration," he said by email. "If government borrowing were pulling money away from businesses, it would be by pushing up interest rates."

Barry Bosworth, senior fellow in economic studies at the Brookings Institution in Washington, agreed. Neumann’s statement "makes little sense right now because the basic problem is the opposite -- no one wants to borrow, and hence interest rates are near zero.  If we could get more people to borrow and invest, the economy would quickly recover," he said.

Andrew Reschovsky, professor of public affairs and applied economics at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, said that among other reasons, Neumann is proven wrong by "basic economics." Increased federal borrowing should increase demand for money and raise interest rates, which would discourage businesses from borrowing, but interest rates have been at or near historic lows, he said. We rate Neumann’s statement False.