Another day, another set of inanities from the House Republicans.
(from the Washington Independent)
"We’re advocating that Congress freeze all federal spending immediately," said Rep. Mike Pence (R-Ind.), the chairman of the House Republican Conference, during a Tuesday luncheon at the conservative Heritage Foundation. "People out there are hurting, and they understand what you do when times are tough. You make hard choices. Today House Republicans are urging the Democrats to do the same. We think it’s time that the Democrats put our money where their mouth is."
"Oh noes," say Republicans, "please show that you understand and swallow our nihilism Democrats. Please understand our failed ideology is intellectually and morally superior to your pragmatic attempts at fixing our mess. Don't you understand, the plan was to destroy the government, not save the country." Social Darwinism is the only acceptable form of evolutionary theory for Republicans apparently.
These Republicans are fools. One-trick ponies that need to be sent to the glue factory because the Bush & Cheney circus has closed up shop and never coming back to town (went bankrupt right before the Depression, I heard).
So most of you out understand by now the basic precept that a majority of economists agree, when demand crashes via consumer spending and there are no exports, the only segment of the economy that can stimulate demand is the government. This is economics 101.
All the Republicans have is their Club for Growth ideology. Fortunately the Obama administration is outthinking these fundamentalists (I want to call them market fundies, but that's not really apropos -- maybe anti-federal. Ahh to parse oneself endlessly). Anyways. (from the Washington Independent)
"To my fellow budget hawks in this room and in the rest of the country, let me be very clear," said Peter Orszag, the director of the Office of Management and Budget, at the financial summit. "Health care reform is entitlement reform. The path of fiscal responsibility must run directly through health care."
Seems like the Obama folks are going to change the terms of the debate to be more realistic, like the fact that out of control health care costs is a drag on the economy. But the Republicans will always have credentialed apologists for intelligent design, er uh, supply side economics.
Brian Riedl, the lead budget analyst for the Heritage Foundation, disagreed that the economics of deficit spending were quite this simple. "Is the assumption that expanding government is good for economic growth?" asked Riedl. "If that worked, France and Germany would have spent the last 25 years as the strongest economies in the world, instead of watching the United States grow at a faster rate."
Hmmm. Lets see how bullshit is not a fact, but in fact, full of shit. First, make up history (it was awfully golden in the golden days). Second, ignore externalities (like declining life expectancy, growing infant mortality, high dropout rate, increasing teen pregnancy -- you know those things that European social democracies have improved over the past 25 years). Thirdly, pretend the only true measure of success is the growth of the economy -- GDP is not my or your well-being.
I'm sure we will hear more of this stupid argument, day after day, lifetime after lifetime. The problem with government is spending, always spending unless it is on war. Maybe we should call this the "War on Depression" and then the Republicans might entertain some other economic notion. Who knows.
I suggest that everyone read the article as it is a panoply of hilarity. I'll leave with one more quote (even supply siders think the Republicans are nuts)
As Republicans push for spending cuts or spending freezes, they continue to propose tax cuts. That unsettles even some economists who agree with the thrust of Republicans’ arguments. "I would probably not support supply-side tax cuts right now," said Lee Ohanian, an economics professor at the University of California-Los Angeles who co-wrote a much-cited study arguing that the New Deal lengthened the great depression. "There’s no tax reform being discussed right now that would expand the tax base and increase revenues."