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Economists for Dean:
A problem facing Dean and the Democrats is how to explain the importance of the reckless fiscal policy pursued by the Bush Administration and the growing debt crisis --especially as the economy improves. As Robert Rubin explains in his book, "In an Uncertain World" excerpted by Newsweek:
Robert Reischauer, a former head of the CBO and one of the wisest budget experts I know, thinks that our nation's leaders may well be unwilling to repair our long-term fiscal mess until we reach an inevitable day of reckoning. When that crisis arrives, we will either make the decision to increase revenues substantially--at what may well be an inopportune time--or face severe and prolonged economic tribulations. Then the American people will look back with dismay at what happened. Unfortunately, no one who is now concerned about deficits has yet found a way to explain these future costs in a way that has political resonance while these problems are being created and can still be prevented. Leaving aside debates about whether deficits matter and about whether the supply-side effects are real, tax cuts and spending increases often seem attractive in the short term to politicians--and voters--who either don't focus on the long term or perhaps recognize the potential problems but feel that they will fall on somebody else's watch.
As we all know political catchphrases, for better or worse, work. See this article by George Lakoff on how the Republicans have succesfully framed issues:
On the day that George W. Bush took office, the words "tax relief" started appearing in White House communiqués. Think for a minute about the word relief. In order for there to be relief, there has to be a blameless, afflicted person with whom we identify and whose affliction has been imposed by some external cause. Relief is the taking away of the pain or harm, thanks to some reliever.
Any ideas on how to "frame" the problem of the growing debt? People have argued, for example, that the debt problem is like handing your grandkids your credit card bill. How do we get that concept across in a simple concise phrase like tax relief?
Lerxst