Saturday, September 08, 2007

Bad economic news: Good for anybody?

Bad News Puts Political Glare Onto Economy - New York Times

Oh, sure, Republicans and Democrats alike jumped all over the bad news, citing divergent 'causes' from Bush's failure to lead (Obama) to the never-ending business cycle (Thompson). But does anybody win from this kind of news? Is it all just jockeying for position?

I think so. Do any of the candidates have any suggestions that are based on sound economic principles rather than politics? I haven't heard any yet.

The kinds of things that the Dems talk about (mostly social programs) will only raise taxes, dampening consumer spending, and thus, aggregate demand.

The things that the Reps talk about, like lowering taxes, will only cause the budget deficit, and the national debt and its concomitant interest payment burden, to increase, thus effectively selling our economy, one bond at a time, to the Chinese...

What's the solution? Is there a solution? What can we do?

Not sure anything can get us out of this mess.

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