September 12, 2007
Krugman on Chait
Over at TPM Cafe, Paul Krugman comments on Johnathan Chait's The Big Con: The True Story of How Washington Got Hoodwinked and Hijacked by CrackpotEconomics:
Jon’s description is correct, but, I think, somewhat incomplete.
First, supply-side quackery is only one of the gambits used to sell tax cuts.
There are other, older versions – notably the claim that government is wasting your money on vast armies of useless bureaucrats. Way back in 1964, in his famous speech on behalf of Barry Goldwater, Reagan talked about how crazy it was that the federal government employed 2.5 million civilian workers; nobody pointed out that two-thirds of those civilians worked either for the Pentagon or for the post office.
Second, Jon talks at some length about the media, and in particular about the Republican ability to get journalists to harp endlessly on supposed character flaws of Democrats, while their own candidates get a free pass...
Posted by Robin Varghese at 02:19 PM | Permalink
Comments
"Second, Jon talks at some length about the media, and in particular about the Republican ability to get journalists to harp endlessly on supposed character flaws of Democrats, while their own candidates get a free pass..."
LOL! Er, you ARE kidding, right?
Posted by: Carlos | Sep 12, 2007 3:38:31 PM
Well, before everyone wised up about 43 (or all but about 28%, anyway), most of the press gushed over his penchant for giving his pals cute nicknames like "Turdblossom" and being the kind of guy you'd want to have a beer with at your local tap (if he were not on the wagon), while attacking Gore for wearing earth-tone suits and acting too stiff and nerdy, and at Kerry for windsurfing in a silly-looking wet-suit. Never mind about their ideas and policy proposals; it's all about looks.
Well, in this respect they're just following the lead of the public, which even at this point is apparently much more interested in Britney's flop than 43's flop in Iraq.
Posted by: JonJ | Sep 13, 2007 10:35:48 AM
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