That Which We Call A (Charlie) Rose
I happened to catch Charlie Rose a few evenings ago. The show, as per usual, followed its tried and true recipe. Three parts egghead (media, political, and academic elites), and one part bonehead (Arianna Huffington). The resulting Illuminati stew was prepared to near perfection—with all ingredients contributing their stereotypical Upper East Side, affected, and oh-so-condescending opinions—not letting the facts be as much as a fly in the ideological pot. Heck, when there's little or no supporting evidence, at least make the case with complete conviction and emphatic indignation.
As this blog accurately and presciently predicted (about as hard as forecasting another losing season for the Pirates), the Left's primary excuse for the incontrovertible failure of the administration's economic policies is not that those policies are misguided, but that they were not of sufficient scale. That's right, the $787 billion albatross of a recovery-inhibiting package would have been fine and dandy had it only been twice the size. So say the thorns sitting around Charlie Rose. Believe it or not, they still don't see the writing on the wall. They're actually attempting to lay the groundwork for more Keynesian-style spending, even though the three most recent such efforts from Bush and Obama, and every one from prior presidents, has been a documented failure. Forget incentivizing the private sector; let the government handle it. It's never worked before, but maybe that means it's all the closer to working next time. Hidden vigorish, as Bob Prince used to call it.
Not surprisingly, the Left's point person for promoting more and more government has been the Nobel Laureate of Chicken Little economics, Paul Krugman. Krugman and his Liberal fear mongers are going so far as to advance the notion of a 21st century Works Project Administration (WPA). Apparently, since the government has crowded out virtually all private capital, and stiffled innovation, entrepreneurship, and business investment with the uncertainty surrounding its entropy-riddled over-management of the economy, it now thinks it's time to go on a hiring spree. Yup, the lender and subsidizer of last resort may be looking to become the hirer of last resort, too.
Won't that be special? Disregard the fact that the government is broke (understatement of the century) and only about one sixth or seventh the size of the private economy. Also, ignore the reality that what we need is for the government to get out of the way, or at least support real growth with a concomitant incentive regime that leads to the creation of sustainable jobs, bountiful opportunities for investment, and trend or above trend GDP expansion—rather than temporary, make-work projects that leave little more in their wake than greater national debt.
Government expansion by any other name does not smell sweet. Apologies to Will.
As this blog accurately and presciently predicted (about as hard as forecasting another losing season for the Pirates), the Left's primary excuse for the incontrovertible failure of the administration's economic policies is not that those policies are misguided, but that they were not of sufficient scale. That's right, the $787 billion albatross of a recovery-inhibiting package would have been fine and dandy had it only been twice the size. So say the thorns sitting around Charlie Rose. Believe it or not, they still don't see the writing on the wall. They're actually attempting to lay the groundwork for more Keynesian-style spending, even though the three most recent such efforts from Bush and Obama, and every one from prior presidents, has been a documented failure. Forget incentivizing the private sector; let the government handle it. It's never worked before, but maybe that means it's all the closer to working next time. Hidden vigorish, as Bob Prince used to call it.
Not surprisingly, the Left's point person for promoting more and more government has been the Nobel Laureate of Chicken Little economics, Paul Krugman. Krugman and his Liberal fear mongers are going so far as to advance the notion of a 21st century Works Project Administration (WPA). Apparently, since the government has crowded out virtually all private capital, and stiffled innovation, entrepreneurship, and business investment with the uncertainty surrounding its entropy-riddled over-management of the economy, it now thinks it's time to go on a hiring spree. Yup, the lender and subsidizer of last resort may be looking to become the hirer of last resort, too.
Won't that be special? Disregard the fact that the government is broke (understatement of the century) and only about one sixth or seventh the size of the private economy. Also, ignore the reality that what we need is for the government to get out of the way, or at least support real growth with a concomitant incentive regime that leads to the creation of sustainable jobs, bountiful opportunities for investment, and trend or above trend GDP expansion—rather than temporary, make-work projects that leave little more in their wake than greater national debt.
Government expansion by any other name does not smell sweet. Apologies to Will.
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