Economics, Freakonomics
1. Economics – Are you a wishy-washy liberal who hopes that everything will come together as long as “we all get along” and long for the “Age of Aquarius”? Do you find yourself frustrated in arguments as conservatives talk about the hard-nosed choices that must be made so that the economy can grow and spread prosperity and that government has no place in the economy and then call you naive? Then read Paul Krugman, Princeton professor and NY Times columnist, who today was announced as Nobel Prizewinner for Economics.
I started taking an interest in economics again a few months ago (I had studied some at school and university) and along with Joseph Stiglitz, Jeffrey Sachs and John Kenneth Galbraith, Krugman was one of those whose books I read. I covered The Return of Depression Economics and The Great Unraveling. For the Wishy-Washies amongst you who run a mile from terms like Monetarism, Supply-Side, Long-Term Equilibrium etc, don’t be alarmed. Krugman is an immensely accessible writer, who brilliantly attacks the economic rationale of the Bush Administration and neo-conservative free enterprise theory. So go read his work either in book form or as New York Times columns and next time somebody talks about how trickle-down will work in the long run, be able to pick the argument apart and finish it with the famous quote from John Maynard Keynes – “In the long run we are all dead”
2. Freakonomics – Republicans over the weekend urged John McCain to put forward a broad plan for the economy and last night I saw Senator Lindsey Graham call for further tax cuts (I think it’s safe to assume including a good portion for the wealthy). Here we go again. The Republican response to the abject failure of the Bush Tax Cuts to keep the American economy growing is to call for an extension of these policies!! At this point I no longer think they’re smoking pot, I think they’re all going on “team-building exercises” with Sarah Palin to Wasilla to score some crystal meth!!
~ by Sam Hayden Jr on October 13, 2008.
Posted in Bailout, Barack Obama, Bush Tax Cuts, Campaign 2008, Current Affairs, Current Events, Democrats, Economics, Election '08, Election 2008, Financial Crisis, George Bush, Joe Biden, John McCain, Lies, McCain-Obama debate, Politics, Presidential Debate, Republicans, Sarah Palin, Wall Street
I agree. I think it is time for Reaganomics to come to an end. The trickle down effect has not worked. As a matter of fact, I would go so far as to say that it has killed the American Dream.