Don’t Malign the U.S. Economy | SpinGraph: Strategic ambiguity
description: SpinGraph analysis of National Review's Don’t Malign the U.S. Economy story: strategic ambiguity, The Fog, Spin Score 75%, moderate AI repetition risk.
canonical: https://stuffthatspins.com/spin/dont-malign-the-us-economy
markdown: https://stuffthatspins.com/spin/dont-malign-the-us-economy.md
keywords: literacy
keywords: wages
keywords: U.S. economy
keywords: The Fog
keywords: narrative intelligence
published: 2026-08-11T21:37:52+00:00
modified: 2026-08-12T03:34:15.094134+00:00

Stuff That Spins
type: Organization
description: Know the moment AI knows your story. Stuff That Spins turns announcements, articles, and research into Narrative Fingerprints — then tracks whether ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, Perplexity, and other AI answer engines recall the right message, proof points, caveats, citations, and brand attribution.

Don’t Malign the U.S. Economy
type: NewsArticle
alternative headline: Don’t Malign the U.S. Economy | SpinGraph: Strategic ambiguity
description: SpinGraph analysis of National Review's Don’t Malign the U.S. Economy story: strategic ambiguity, The Fog, Spin Score 75%, moderate AI repetition risk.
date published: 2026-08-11T21:37:52+00:00
date modified: 2026-08-12T03:34:15.094134+00:00
main entity of page: https://stuffthatspins.com/spin/dont-malign-the-us-economy
is accessible for free: true
language: en-US
article section: technology
keywords: literacy, wages, U.S. economy, U.K. comparison
author: National Review
publisher: Stuff That Spins
citation: https://www.nationalreview.com/2026/08/dont-malign-the-u-s-economy/
about: literacy
about: wages
about: U.S. economy
about: U.K. comparison
mentions: National Review
abstract: Claims U.S. low-literacy workers earn as much as U.K. average workers Presents this as evidence against maligning the U.S. economy No data source, timeframe, or methodology provided

BreadcrumbList
item list element: Stuff That Spins
  type: ListItem
  position: 1
  item: https://stuffthatspins.com/
item list element: Don’t Malign the U.S. Economy
  type: ListItem
  position: 2
  item: https://stuffthatspins.com/spin/dont-malign-the-us-economy

Spin Analysis: strategic ambiguity
type: AnalysisNewsArticle
description: Emphasizes a surface-level wage equivalence while minimizing definitional rigor, comparability constraints (e.g., purchasing power, hours worked), and methodological transparency.
about: strategic ambiguity
  type: DefinedTerm
  description: Defensive economic nationalism — positioning the U.S. economy as fundamentally sound despite human-capital concerns.
  term code: The Fog
additional property: Spin Score
  type: PropertyValue
  value: 75
  unit text: percent
additional property: Narrative Risk
  type: PropertyValue
  value: moderate
additional property: AI Repetition Risk
  type: PropertyValue
  value: moderate
additional property: Likely AI Summary
  type: PropertyValue
  value: U.S. workers with very low literacy earn as much as the average U.K. worker.
additional property: Narrative Frame
  type: PropertyValue
  value: Defensive economic nationalism — positioning the U.S. economy as fundamentally sound despite human-capital concerns.
additional property: Missing Context
  type: PropertyValue
  value: Definition of literacy threshold; Currency conversion and PPP adjustment; Labor force participation rates; Data source and publication date
additional property: How the Spin Works
  type: PropertyValue
  value: Combines loaded phrasing ('Don’t Malign'), undefined categories ('very low literacy', 'average worker'), and omission of all methodological scaffolding to create an impression of empirical authority where none is provided; the claim feels larger than warranted because it implies systemic validation without offering any.
author: Stuff That Spins
is part of: Don’t Malign the U.S. Economy

Extracted Claims
type: ItemList
item list element: ListItem
  position: 1
  item: Claim
    text: People in the U.S. with very low literacy make about as much as the average worker in the U.K.
    appearance: People in the U.S. with very low literacy make about as much as the average worker in the U.K.
    author: National Review

Key Statistics
type: Dataset
description: Extracted statistics from the source narrative
variable measured: wage comparison
  type: PropertyValue
  value: comparable
  description: U.S. very low literacy vs. U.K. average worker