A Bad Number

Bloomberg reports:

Manufacturing in the U.S. contracted for a third month in August, the longest slide since the recession ended and a sign the expansion is at risk of losing a source of strength.

Bad news, obviously. For “the economy,” which is sometimes treated as though it were a mysterious and capricious force of nature that leaves us at the mercy of “headwinds,” and the things that grow or shrink “unexpectedly.” So, this decline will be treated at the Democratic convention, if it is mentioned at all, as something unfortunate for which Washington, the current administration and, most of all, the president, are not responsible.