March 14, 2010 – 10:24 pm
I suppose, as a fan of Rep. Paul Ryan, that I should be concerned that Krugman is going on, and on, and on about how bad the Ryan Fiscal Roadmap is; this is his latest post on the subject.
But then, I recall that Krugman doesn’t even seem to understand what he has written in his own economics textbook, and that he has a tendency to grossly mislead his readers when it comes to discussing the ideas of people Krugman doesn’t like. Remembering all of this, I think that I will put more stock in Ryan’s arguments.
I agree with this post almost completely and entirely. I am not as sanguine as is Amar Bhide is on the issue of immigration and education, but I am on board with everything else in the post. Go read.
But finances may cause the U.S. Postal Service to end Saturday deliveries. Over at his blog, Eric Zorn facetiously argues that we ought to get all of our mail on Saturdays, with every other day being mail-free. Of course, that argument is ridiculous, but perhaps only just barely ridiculous; it is difficult to imagine a monopoly as useless and value-less as the one that the Postal Service currently “enjoys.”
Remind me once again why I was supposed to think that government could effectively administer a public option for health care. As we can see, it can’t even competently manage its own finances:
A new congressional report released Friday says the United States’ long-term fiscal woes are even worse than predicted by President Barack Obama’s grim budget submission last month.
The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office predicts that Obama’s budget plans would generate deficits over the upcoming decade that would total $9.8 trillion. That’s $1.2 trillion more than predicted by the administration.
The agency says its future-year predictions of tax revenues are more pessimistic than the administration’s. That’s because CBO projects slightly slower economic growth than the White House.
Republicans ought to be embracing Paul Ryan’s fiscal roadmap. That they refuse to hurts the GOP’s efforts to be seen as a credible, deficit-fighting party. And the claim on the part of many Republicans that Medicare need not be cut–or even means-tested–simply cannot be taken seriously. Everyone knows–or ought to know–that the current entitlement structure is simply unsustainable. One cannot acknowledge that, while claiming at the same time that Medicare benefits cannot or should not be reduced.
It is bad enough that Democrats have proven themselves to be so lacking in seriousness when it comes to putting forth a responsible fiscal policy. Republicans should do better than to play down to the standards Democrats set on this issue.
February 25, 2010 – 2:16 am
Bruce Bartlett is the author of The New American Economy. Bartlett himself submitted to an interview about his book, the transcript of which follows below.
By Pejman Yousefzadeh
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Posted in Chequer-Board, Features
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Also tagged Book Review, Books, Bruce Bartlett, economy, Federal Deficit, Keynesianism, Supply-Side Economics, taxes, The New American Economy, VAT
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February 23, 2010 – 11:13 pm
As explained by Paul Ryan in a Q&A with the New York Times’s Deborah Solomon:
Your “Road Map,” we should explain, is a somewhat alarming document that proposes, in 600-plus pages, erasing the federal deficit by radically restricting the government’s role in social programs like Social Security and Medicare. The president described it as “a serious proposal.”
Right. And then the next day his budget director starts ripping me and then the day after that the entire Democratic National Committee political machine starts launching demagogic attacks on me and my plan. So when you hear the word “bipartisanship” come from the president and then you see his political machine get in full-force attack mode, it comes across as very insincere.
He seems genuinely pained by what he has called the “obstinacy” of Congressional Republicans and their just-say-no obstructionism.
You know, casting the other side as somehow nefarious and evil and poorly intended is the oldest trick in the book.
February 17, 2010 – 4:21 pm
The microphone goes to Megan McArdle:
February 17, 2010 – 4:17 pm
My friend and colleague, Francis Cianfrocca, has an op-ed for CBS News that further refutes Obama Administration spin regarding its stimulus package.
February 17, 2010 – 4:07 pm
Two big economic items for the day. The first is that the President has decided to create a debt panel that will supposedly lead us out of the fiscal mess that we are in. The second is that David Leonhardt has allied himself with the Administration’s spin machine to sing the praises of last year’s stimulus package.
By Pejman Yousefzadeh
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Posted in Blogs, Chequer-Board
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Also tagged Barack Obama, Budget Deficit, David Leonhardt, Economic Ignorance, economy, Entitlement Spending, Keynesian Stimulus, Matthew Continetti, Michael Boskin, Obama Administration, Reihan Salam, The Failure Of Keynesian Stimulus
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