I offer the counter-example of Japan. Japan, with the highest debt burden of any modern nation — debt at 182 percent of GNP — has little money for m ore programs for the elderly, for example.
We’re not aging as rapidly as Japan is, but, we would be at zero population growth without immigration, at best.
Ignoring typical conservative diatribes about the imperiled future of Social Security, treating a $1 trillion deficit cavalierly isn’t advised.
Yes, FDR pushed us back into deeper economic malaise when he tried to be a budget-cutter in his second term.
That said, his deliverance from both a strong depression AND from monstrous deficits was found in World War II.
I don’t think that’s a bankable repeat economic plan.
But Steve Benen, for example, riffing on Paul Krugman, say, “spend away,” though.
We’re fortunate we’re not as old as Japan. But, we’re moving more that way.
And, if we were a Third World country pulling this crap, the IMF would be beating down our collective national door with a battering ram.
Other critics of the Krugman column are right — it’s a blank-check license to spend without doing some analysis of what a bottom line should be.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Your comments are appreciated, as is at least a modicum of politeness.
Comments are moderated, so yours may not appear immediately.
Due to various forms of spamming, comments with professional websites, not your personal website or blog, may be rejected.