Politics is my favorite spectator sport. It’s often amusing, a little like watching monkeys at the zoo. But when politicians tinker with the economy they’re downright scary. The continuing recession (or recovery, depending on which party is talking) means that the economy will be a political football until the November election.
Most of us don’t fully understand the economy. I sure don’t. But the economic causes and solutions we’re hearing from the politicians set off my bullshit alarm practically every day. Every government attempt to fix the economy, especially in recent years, seems to result in unintended consequences. The only certainty seems to be that you get more of what you subsidize and less of what you tax.
The economists are no help. Every approach to the economy, however loony, is supported by at least one professor of economics. Want to starve a bunch of economists? Lock them in a room until they agree on a pizza order.
So we hear economists and politicians urging the kind of central planning and government spending that is bankrupting Europe. Some want us to emulate China, where a planned economy is headed for a crash and the high-speed trains already are crashing. Others urge a return to Reaganomics, which grew the economy in the 1980s but resulted in leveraged buyouts, junk bonds, and the migration of talent from productive business to the financial sector. All of this politico-economic blather is filtered through the lens of a mostly partisan news media.
A political campaign ought to focus on ideas about the economy and the government’s role in it. Can we reform the tax code to tax entrepreneurs at a lower rate than hedge-fund managers? Must energy policy and environmental protection remain mutually exclusive? Can a targeted job training program help unemployed workers qualify for all those unfilled manufacturing jobs? How can government and the banks team up to allow the housing market to hit bottom with a soft landing for homeowners?
But we’re not going to hear any ideas, are we? Instead, the economy will be fair game for demagoguery such as the attack on capitalism by Republicans who claim to support a free-market economy. Newt Gingrich and Rick Perry in particular revealed their ignorance of business and disdain for the private sector when they attacked Mitt Romney for Bain Capital’s corporate reorganizations. Just think what we’ll hear from the Democrats.
As I understand it, Romney did the same thing my neighbor does when he flips houses. This neighbor bought the crappiest house on the block and invested in a major rehab. In the process he scrapped the inefficient furnace and outdated cabinets, and that sounds like what Bain Capital did to turn around failing companies. Wonder if the executive branch of the federal government could use some remodeling?
The vulture-capitalist schtick is only the beginning. We’re going to hear that Democrats want a socialist system that will bankrupt the economy, and that Republicans want to help millionaires oppress the middle class and cancel Grandma’s Medicare.
It’s going to be a long, depressing campaign. What few economic ideas emerge will be written in crayon.
Economic demagoguery
Politics is my favorite spectator sport. It’s often amusing, a little like watching monkeys at the zoo. But when politicians tinker with the economy they’re downright scary. The continuing recession (or recovery, depending on which party is talking) means that the economy will be a political football until the November election.
Most of us don’t fully understand the economy. I sure don’t. But the economic causes and solutions we’re hearing from the politicians set off my bullshit alarm practically every day. Every government attempt to fix the economy, especially in recent years, seems to result in unintended consequences. The only certainty seems to be that you get more of what you subsidize and less of what you tax.
The economists are no help. Every approach to the economy, however loony, is supported by at least one professor of economics. Want to starve a bunch of economists? Lock them in a room until they agree on a pizza order.
So we hear economists and politicians urging the kind of central planning and government spending that is bankrupting Europe. Some want us to emulate China, where a planned economy is headed for a crash and the high-speed trains already are crashing. Others urge a return to Reaganomics, which grew the economy in the 1980s but resulted in leveraged buyouts, junk bonds, and the migration of talent from productive business to the financial sector. All of this politico-economic blather is filtered through the lens of a mostly partisan news media.
A political campaign ought to focus on ideas about the economy and the government’s role in it. Can we reform the tax code to tax entrepreneurs at a lower rate than hedge-fund managers? Must energy policy and environmental protection remain mutually exclusive? Can a targeted job training program help unemployed workers qualify for all those unfilled manufacturing jobs? How can government and the banks team up to allow the housing market to hit bottom with a soft landing for homeowners?
But we’re not going to hear any ideas, are we? Instead, the economy will be fair game for demagoguery such as the attack on capitalism by Republicans who claim to support a free-market economy. Newt Gingrich and Rick Perry in particular revealed their ignorance of business and disdain for the private sector when they attacked Mitt Romney for Bain Capital’s corporate reorganizations. Just think what we’ll hear from the Democrats.
As I understand it, Romney did the same thing my neighbor does when he flips houses. This neighbor bought the crappiest house on the block and invested in a major rehab. In the process he scrapped the inefficient furnace and outdated cabinets, and that sounds like what Bain Capital did to turn around failing companies. Wonder if the executive branch of the federal government could use some remodeling?
The vulture-capitalist schtick is only the beginning. We’re going to hear that Democrats want a socialist system that will bankrupt the economy, and that Republicans want to help millionaires oppress the middle class and cancel Grandma’s Medicare.
It’s going to be a long, depressing campaign. What few economic ideas emerge will be written in crayon.
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