A note to moderators: Words matter

Within the first 30 minutes of Tuesday night's GOP presidential debate, Fox Business' Maria Bartiromo proved how the phrasing of debate questions can affect the exchanges of ideas.

First, addressing a question on the economy to Sen. Ted Cruz, Bartiromo framed her query by saying, "Many economists expect a recession to hit the United States within the next year due to manufacturing."

That mostly isn't true. In fact, as the economy rebounds and new jobs are created, the Federal Reserve is considering its first interest rate hike in nearly a decade to control inflation and keep the economy from gaining too much steam. You can argue we want more growth, higher wages, and other improvements in this country, but to predicate the argument on the idea that economists say we're headed for a recession, which in itself a monument to the idea that nothing can ever go well under President Barack Obama, is absurd.

But Bartiromo quickly topped with: “Gov. Bush, almost 40 percent of Americans are without a job and are not looking. Many have given up, that’s what the participation rate tells us,” as a lead-in to a question about how we can achieve the 4 percent annual growth the former Florida governor promises.

But the vast majority of the “40 percent” who don't have a job and don't want one are retired. It's true that workforce participation rate has sunk to 62.4 percent, but it was only 67 percent in 1998. That shows an aging population, a changing demographic and, yes, it probably shows a less dynamic economy than we’d like. But to phrase as such is to base the formulation of a plan on how to build a better America on a lie about the trends the nation is following.

Bartiromo could have made a far better point by talking about the growth in the number of people who are underemployed, or the failure of real family income to return to pre-recession levels.