Not only do they impoverish the citizenry thanks to an evisceration of savings, they force capital allocators who fund all economic growth to protect their funds in unproductive sinks of wealth (think gold, land and art) over the growth parts of the economy.

FORBES: The 'New Normal' Myth Calls For Ronald Reagan 2.0

Attempts at revitalising growth are being thwarted by pointless and unproductive investment in areas that either leave DPA untouched or actually harm it.

FORBES: Listen Up Bernanke, QE Is Not The Answer

Put simply, this is the point at which a developing country stops being able to achieve rapid growth relatively easily, by simply taking rural workers doing unproductive farm labour and putting them to work in factories and cities instead.

BBC: China: Does it have to become more like us?

President Bush should therefore offer a deal: strong, pro-growth measures as the price for signing off on the usual unproductive stuff.

FORBES: It's the Dollar, Stupid (and Taxes, Too)

Heads of sales, CMOs, directors of marketing and operations teams have created somewhat territorial and even unproductive silos of activity, ignoring the big elephant in the room: real revenue growth.

FORBES: The CEO's New Secret Weapon: The Chief Revenue Officer