Friday, January 30, 2009
CATO Speaks
The Messiah, January 8, 2009:
Only government can provide the short-term boost necessary to lift us from a recession this deep and severe. Only government can break the cycle that are (sic -- is) crippling our economy. That's why we need to act boldly and act now, to reverse these cycles. That's why we need to restart the flow of credit and restore the rules of the road that will ensure a crisis like this never happens again.
The Messiah, January 28, 2009:
In the end, the answer to our economic troubles rests less in my hands or in the hands of our legislators than it does with America's workers and the businesses that employ them. They are the ones whose efforts and ideas will determine our economic destiny just as they always have, for in the end it's businesses -- large and small -- that generate the jobs, provide the salaries, and serve as the foundation on which the American people's lives and dreams depend. All we can do, those of us here in Washington, as to help create a favorable climate in which workers can prosper, businesses can thrive, and our economy can grow.
Of course, The Messiah is just mouthing bullshit in that second bit; it's the first quote that he really believes, so we know for a fact that he's as dishonest as the day is long but we knew that anyway.
Now along comes the CATO Institute to dish out the truth, yo. They've placed an ad in every piece of paper from here to Hackensack, signed by 200 academics who aren't all that smitten by a gigantic piece of shit masquerading as The Word:
Notwithstanding reports that all economists are now Keynesians and that we all support a big increase in the burden of government, we do not believe that more government spending is a way to improve economic performance. More government spending by Hoover and Roosevelt did not pull the United States economy out of the Great Depression in the 1930s. More government spending did not solve Japan's "lost decade" in the 1990s. As such, it is a triumph of hope over experience to believe that more government spending will help the U.S. today. To improve the economy, policy makers should focus on reforms that remove impediments to work, saving, investment and production. Lower tax rates and a reduction in the burden of government are the best ways of using fiscal policy to boost growth.
Read it all. And don't even think of fucking with CATO.
