The Fact of My Ignorance

Well I’ve had several questions lately about a statement I made in my post CA Obstructionism and Political Games in which I was pretty dismissive of tax cuts in the stimulus bill.  All the questions came via email of course (this is what the commenting system is for guys!  You can comment anonymously if you want!).  Anyway, while I’m planning on writing a much larger treatise on tax policy at some later date, I thought I’d address why I think tax cuts provide for relatively little stimulus.  I’m going to try to keep it as non-technical and conversational as possible.  And I should note before I begin that the principles I’ll present in this post are not universally agreed upon in the field of economics, but they are reflective of the economic philosophies that seem most reasonable to me given my educational experiences, and the views that are most widely held among economists today.  So with that, lets just jump right in, this is the trouble with tax cuts as far as I can tell… Continue reading

I thought these seven minutes were some of the most important of Obama’s speech and they can serve here as a springboard for discussing two important topics.  The first is the issue of partisanship.  I have been thoroughly impressed with Obama’s calm demeanor and mature perspective in regards to bipartisanship.  He has reached out across the aisle in an unprecedented way and he has been repeatedly slapped in the face by congressional republicans.  Yet he doesn’t turn on them, he doesn’t denounce them and give up, he talks about how his efforts are a long-term investment.  And he says he’s going to continue reaching across the aisle because its going to take a long-term investment to change the culture of washington.  That demonstrates humility and maturity that we have long expected of our neighbors and friends but which we, for some reason, have not expected of our politicians for a long time.  

He could easily use recent events to score political points against republicans, blaming the lack of bipartisanship on them, especially in light of all the political points they’ve been scoring on him lately.  But I like to think that he has more confidence in the American people.  He knows we can look at an issue rationally and won’t be deceived by strategist commentaries and media blowhards.  He trusts that we can judge a situation based on facts and long-term results and not on quotes and smears.  In short, he’s taking the high road, the same high road he stuck to during his campaign and that goes a long way in my book.

The second issue he talks about is pork.  I think its hilarious how conservative pundits have been able to redefine the word pork so that they can label this stimulus bill as such.  Or it would be hilarious if… Continue reading