Friday, March 25, 2011

In order to save the budget we first have to destroy it

Christina Romer tells Ezra Klein that cutting spending now won't show people that it's going to be under control, but spending more now with promises to fix it later will!

People, I am not making this up:

If people do think we’re out of control of our budget, that surely can’t be good for investment. But how do we show we’re in control? House Republicans say it’s by cutting $61 billion out of this year’s budget. A more sensible view is that $61 billion won’t do anything, so why would anyone be reassured by that? The more sensible thing is we should have a package for short-term stimulus that also includes concrete policies that deal with the deficit, which means entitlements and taxes and defense spending and everything else.

Yeah, only a moron would think that cutting spending now would make people feel better about the budget. Just let us spend a little bit more now and we promise will fix EVERYTHING real soon!

Is there anyone who still buys this?


4 comments:

Anonymous said...

"Is there anyone who still buys this?"

Of course there is, I refer you to one Paul Krugman, c/o of the NY Times.

Anonymous said...

the best day of the week to start a diet is tomorrow.

dangph said...

A journey of a thousand miles begins with -- lots of steps some time in the future.

Unknown said...

You forgot Barack Obama...I believe that he buys it. However, I am not sure that he buys the "cuts in the future" part.