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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsKrugman: After the Flimflam
After the Flimflam
By PAUL KRUGMAN
<...>
Way back in 2010, when everybody in Washington seemed determined to anoint Representative Paul Ryan as the ultimate Serious, Honest Conservative, I pronounced him a flimflam man....Since then, his budgets have gotten even flimflammier. For example, at this point, Mr. Ryan is claiming that he can slash the top tax rate from 39.6 percent to 25 percent, yet somehow raise 19.1 percent of G.D.P. in revenues a number we havent come close to seeing since the dot-com bubble burst a dozen years ago.
The good news is that Mr. Ryans thoroughly unconvincing policy-wonk act seems, finally, to have worn out its welcome. In 2011, his budget was initially treated with worshipful respect, which faded only slightly as critics pointed out the documents many absurdities. This time around, quite a few pundits and reporters have greeted his release with the derision it deserves.
<...>
As many observers have pointed out, the Senate Democratic plan is conservative with a small c: It avoids any drastic policy changes. In particular, it steers away from draconian austerity, which is simply not needed given ultralow U.S. borrowing costs and relatively benign medium-term fiscal projections...the Senate plan calls for further deficit reduction, through a mix of modest tax increases and spending cuts...So we could definitely do worse than the Senate Democratic plan, and we probably will. It is, however, an extremely cautious proposal, one that doesnt follow through on its own analysis. After all, if sharp spending cuts are a bad thing in a depressed economy which they are then the plan really should be calling for substantial though temporary spending increases. It doesnt.
But theres a plan that does: the proposal from the Congressional Progressive Caucus, titled Back to Work, which calls for substantial new spending now, temporarily widening the deficit, offset by major deficit reduction later in the next decade, largely though not entirely through higher taxes on the wealthy, corporations and pollution..some people describe the caucus proposal as a Ryan plan of the left, but thats unfair. There are no Ryan-style magic asterisks, trillion-dollar savings that are assumed to come from unspecified sources; this is an honest proposal. And Back to Work rests on solid macroeconomic analysis, not the fantasy expansionary austerity economics the claim that slashing spending in a depressed economy somehow promotes job growth rather than deepening the depression that Mr. Ryan continues to espouse despite the doctrines total failure in Europe.
- more -
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/15/opinion/krugman-after-the-flimflam.html
By PAUL KRUGMAN
<...>
Way back in 2010, when everybody in Washington seemed determined to anoint Representative Paul Ryan as the ultimate Serious, Honest Conservative, I pronounced him a flimflam man....Since then, his budgets have gotten even flimflammier. For example, at this point, Mr. Ryan is claiming that he can slash the top tax rate from 39.6 percent to 25 percent, yet somehow raise 19.1 percent of G.D.P. in revenues a number we havent come close to seeing since the dot-com bubble burst a dozen years ago.
The good news is that Mr. Ryans thoroughly unconvincing policy-wonk act seems, finally, to have worn out its welcome. In 2011, his budget was initially treated with worshipful respect, which faded only slightly as critics pointed out the documents many absurdities. This time around, quite a few pundits and reporters have greeted his release with the derision it deserves.
<...>
As many observers have pointed out, the Senate Democratic plan is conservative with a small c: It avoids any drastic policy changes. In particular, it steers away from draconian austerity, which is simply not needed given ultralow U.S. borrowing costs and relatively benign medium-term fiscal projections...the Senate plan calls for further deficit reduction, through a mix of modest tax increases and spending cuts...So we could definitely do worse than the Senate Democratic plan, and we probably will. It is, however, an extremely cautious proposal, one that doesnt follow through on its own analysis. After all, if sharp spending cuts are a bad thing in a depressed economy which they are then the plan really should be calling for substantial though temporary spending increases. It doesnt.
But theres a plan that does: the proposal from the Congressional Progressive Caucus, titled Back to Work, which calls for substantial new spending now, temporarily widening the deficit, offset by major deficit reduction later in the next decade, largely though not entirely through higher taxes on the wealthy, corporations and pollution..some people describe the caucus proposal as a Ryan plan of the left, but thats unfair. There are no Ryan-style magic asterisks, trillion-dollar savings that are assumed to come from unspecified sources; this is an honest proposal. And Back to Work rests on solid macroeconomic analysis, not the fantasy expansionary austerity economics the claim that slashing spending in a depressed economy somehow promotes job growth rather than deepening the depression that Mr. Ryan continues to espouse despite the doctrines total failure in Europe.
- more -
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/15/opinion/krugman-after-the-flimflam.html
Progressive Caucus releases the Back to Work Budget
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10022506420
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Krugman: After the Flimflam (Original Post)
ProSense
Mar 2013
OP
ProSense
(116,464 posts)1. Kick! n/t