Kevin Drum comments on what he calls one of David Brooks' "Patented 'arguing with myself' columns" in the New York Times today yesterday. In that column, Brooks wonders if maybe continued economic stimulus isn't a good idea and concludes that it isn't.
"These days, debt-fueled government spending doesn’t increase confidence. It destroys it," Brooks writes. "Only 6 percent of Americans believe the last stimulus created jobs, according to a New York Times/CBS News survey. Consumers are recovering from a debt-fueled bubble and have a moral aversion to more debt."
One point I'd make is that reality isn't a democracy. If most people believe the stimulus hasn't created jobs, then the majority is provably wrong. There was a time when the majority thought the word was flat -- this doesn't mean the world was once flat. Public opinion tells you about public opinion and nothing else. What this particular number tells you is that Democrats suck at blowing their own horn. Using public opinion to shore up an argument about economic facts is to misuse it entirely. But Drum brings up another, albeit similar, point:
And he's correct. What conservatives like Brooks do is launch some weird idea, then they all talk about it until everyone else is talking about it, then they point to public opinion polls and say, "Look, I'm just saying what everyone else is saying" -- as if it wasn't their idea in the first place. You know what creates confidence? Demand creates confidence. Concrete, solid, real-world demand. Not hand-holding and "sending messages" to investors. And decreasing spending decreases demand -- it's the definition of decreased demand, for chrissake.
Yet here's Brooks, taking a trip to Phil Gramm's "mental recession" well and telling us that the economy's in the dumps because we feel bad. We don't need a freakin' therapist to increase confidence, we need to increase demand.
And now this idiocy has reached someone in the White House. "It’s garbage, of course: businesses are refusing to invest because they don't see enough demand for their products," writes Paul Krugman. "And administration economists know that it's garbage. But obviously some people in the WH -- I'm guessing a political person, but who knows -- have bought the right-wing line hook, line, and sinker."
You know what's bad politics? Screwing up the economy to get a short-term bump in the polls. That's bad politics. And that's what this would be. Here's hoping whoever has this idea is laughed out of the Oval Office. As Krugman says, it's garbage -- on more levels than one.
"These days, debt-fueled government spending doesn’t increase confidence. It destroys it," Brooks writes. "Only 6 percent of Americans believe the last stimulus created jobs, according to a New York Times/CBS News survey. Consumers are recovering from a debt-fueled bubble and have a moral aversion to more debt."
One point I'd make is that reality isn't a democracy. If most people believe the stimulus hasn't created jobs, then the majority is provably wrong. There was a time when the majority thought the word was flat -- this doesn't mean the world was once flat. Public opinion tells you about public opinion and nothing else. What this particular number tells you is that Democrats suck at blowing their own horn. Using public opinion to shore up an argument about economic facts is to misuse it entirely. But Drum brings up another, albeit similar, point:
[A] columnist like Brooks doesn't have to pander to public opinion. He should leave that to politicians. If he thinks more debt is dangerous, he should say so and explain why. If he doesn't, he should say that. What he shouldn't do is throw up his hands and say that since the public feels X, then we must do X. After all, part of the reason the public feels X is because people like David Brooks keep telling them that.
And he's correct. What conservatives like Brooks do is launch some weird idea, then they all talk about it until everyone else is talking about it, then they point to public opinion polls and say, "Look, I'm just saying what everyone else is saying" -- as if it wasn't their idea in the first place. You know what creates confidence? Demand creates confidence. Concrete, solid, real-world demand. Not hand-holding and "sending messages" to investors. And decreasing spending decreases demand -- it's the definition of decreased demand, for chrissake.
Yet here's Brooks, taking a trip to Phil Gramm's "mental recession" well and telling us that the economy's in the dumps because we feel bad. We don't need a freakin' therapist to increase confidence, we need to increase demand.
And now this idiocy has reached someone in the White House. "It’s garbage, of course: businesses are refusing to invest because they don't see enough demand for their products," writes Paul Krugman. "And administration economists know that it's garbage. But obviously some people in the WH -- I'm guessing a political person, but who knows -- have bought the right-wing line hook, line, and sinker."
You know what's bad politics? Screwing up the economy to get a short-term bump in the polls. That's bad politics. And that's what this would be. Here's hoping whoever has this idea is laughed out of the Oval Office. As Krugman says, it's garbage -- on more levels than one.
