AAM’s NCAA bracket: Determined, Naturally, by Jobs Created by Ending Currency Manipulation

By Matthew McMullan
Mar 20 2014 |
It’s the most wonderful time of the year. / Photo by Flickr user chilihead.

What better way to make your hoops picks?

March Madness is upon us.

The thrilling victories! The crushing defeats! The one shining moment. At the Alliance for American Manufacturing (AAM), we appreciate the whole experience.

AAM also appreciates just how hard it is to complete a perfect NCAA bracket (there’s a reason Warren Buffett feels pretty confident offering up $1 billion of his own money for one). So we figured: Why not apply the job creation figures from the latest Economic Policy Institute (EPI) report on currency manipulation to choose our hoops champion?

Can’t be any better or worse than picking winners based on their mascots, right? So we determined which congressional district each tourney team calls home, and used the number of jobs that would be created in those districts by ending global currency manipulation to fill out our bracket.

Here’s what we got:

There are a lot of gasp-inducers in here. We’ve got the first ever 1-16 upset! Two 2-15 upsets (hey, it can happen). A 13-seed makes the Elite Eight, and a rare 10-seed makes the Final Four.

Our winner? The Wichita State Shockers.

But before we celebrate the Shockers, remember that we've done this exercise to make a point: Halting currency manipulation by America's trading partners could create jobs. By illegally undervaluing their exchange rates, countries like China make American exports expensive and their own exports cheap. That creates unbalanced trade, hurts American manufacturers and it hurts workers in every corner of this country.

But that latest EPI report? It says ending currency manipulation would help a lot. It would cut Washington’s budget deficit by $266 billion and create up to 5.8 million American jobs, including 21,000 jobs in Kansas’ Fourth congressional district alone.

The fightin’ fourth! Home of the Shockers, presently undefeated and a favorite to win it all. They’re AAM's favorite, too. Now if only we could get Rep. Mike Pompeo to take a stand against currency manipulation, the college-hoops-and-currency circle would be complete.

Make sure your representative is fighting currency manipulation. Check out AAM’s bracket here. And all of the games, natch, are right here.

All of the serious legwork for this post done by AAM Intern Pamela Tom-Jack.