No, Mr. President. We are not all Keynesian.
By JR Hoeft | Wednesday, January 28th, 2009 | PolicyA virtual who’s-who in economics is taking out an ad in major newspapers today declaring that the economic stimulus package as it is written is a very bad idea. Nobel Laureates and significant contributors to the field of economics declare that:
It is a triumph of hope over experience to believe that more government spending will help the U.S. today. To improve the economy, policymakers should focus on reforms that remove impediments to work, saving, investment and production. Lower tax rates and a reduction in the burden of government are the best ways of using fiscal policy to boost growth.
It would appear that Obama’s declaration on Jan. 9 that there is “no disagreement” amongst economists on the way to jumpstart the economy was a bit premature.
(h/t: NetRightNation)
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Conservative to the core; liberal with his opinion! J.R. has been involved in politics for over a decade and has worked on several campaigns in Hampton Roads. He has served on the Executive Committee of the Republican Party of Chesapeake and the Central Committee of the Republican Party of Virginia. He is also the director of “Blogs United” in Virginia. E-mail J.R.. Follow J.R. on Twitter.
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4 Responses to "No, Mr. President. We are not all Keynesian."
[...] Apparently, the assertion was a little – shall we say? – overstepping of the reality. According to Bearing Drift, a slew of economists are involved in taking out full-page ads in major newspapers today stating [...]
I will note that decreasing taxes without decreasing spending adds to the budget deficit.
I am willing to allow for a short term increase in the deficit due to the dire situation we face. I am not against some of the measures being short term tax decreases which temporarily add to the deficit. However just as I am against long term obligations being included in the stimulus package that are not paid for (and there does seem to be attempts to do this) I am also against attempts to include long term tax decreases that are not accompanied by spending cuts.
But I am going to note with interest one aspect of the opinion of the economists not in agreement. Quoting from the above article, they think:
I will note that the economists think: “Lower tax rates and a reduction in the burden of government are the best ways of using fiscal policy to boost growth.”
Seems to me lack of regulation (reduced burden of government) of the financial sector is a big part of the reason for the mess we are now in. Seems to be they are continuing to preach discredited ideas.
They are ivory tower professors from the top universities – exactly the type of intellectuals divorced from every day reality that Republicans used to ridicule. The difference is the ones the GOP ridiculed were the ones on the left. Ideology divorced from pragmatism isn’t good no matter which side it comes from.
[...] today, I mentioned to you that 200 of the nation’s most preeminent economists were dead set against the massive government spending and bailout that is being proposed in [...]
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