Romer Has Drunk the Kool-Aid
I said previously that no economist would want their name attached to the Obama economic record. Christy Romer appears unconcerned about her reputation though. Also, she apparently has been in the White House exactly long enough to drink the Kool-Aid. Via Greg Mankiw, her report on healthcare reform and the budget deficit is typical of "blame Bush"habit of this administration:
"Finally, by far the lion’s share of the projected cumulative deficit is due to policy actions taken in the last Administration. Economists Alan Auerbach and William Gale find that policies from the last eight years that we failed to pay for, including cutting taxes, introducing a new entitlement program for prescription drug benefits, and fighting two wars, are contributing approximately $700 billion per year to the budget deficit."
Again, the data show that tax receipts soared in the years following the 2003 tax cuts. That spending outpaced receipts is a result of the failure to curtail spending in all aspects beyond the war. Yes, new entitlements were a cause of Bush era deficits. Ditto the failure to use the veto pen for out-of-control pork and earmarking. So the Obama administration is doing more (by a multiple) of what the Bush administration did wrong and zero of what the Bush administration did right, but somehow Obama's deficits are Bush's fault. The academic economics profession is too collegial to ever call out its bozos but Christy Romer is shaping up to be a disaster for the profession, someone who spouts nonsense to please her boss.
"Finally, by far the lion’s share of the projected cumulative deficit is due to policy actions taken in the last Administration. Economists Alan Auerbach and William Gale find that policies from the last eight years that we failed to pay for, including cutting taxes, introducing a new entitlement program for prescription drug benefits, and fighting two wars, are contributing approximately $700 billion per year to the budget deficit."
Again, the data show that tax receipts soared in the years following the 2003 tax cuts. That spending outpaced receipts is a result of the failure to curtail spending in all aspects beyond the war. Yes, new entitlements were a cause of Bush era deficits. Ditto the failure to use the veto pen for out-of-control pork and earmarking. So the Obama administration is doing more (by a multiple) of what the Bush administration did wrong and zero of what the Bush administration did right, but somehow Obama's deficits are Bush's fault. The academic economics profession is too collegial to ever call out its bozos but Christy Romer is shaping up to be a disaster for the profession, someone who spouts nonsense to please her boss.
posted by Donny Baseball at 10:42 AM
1 Comments:
Pfft! A little blatant dishonesty on behalf of social and economic justice isn't really such a bad thing. Doris Kearns Goodwin and Jared Bernstein are both thriving despite their respective ambivalence toward the truth.
And when Ms. Romer is finally thrown under the bus next spring when unemployment (the official version!) edges past 11% her resume and an appropriate letter of recommendation will be more than welcome at 1024 Elysian Fields Ave., New Orleans.
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