How many of the Republicans are (secretly) basic Keynesians?

[cthulu2016]

This is something I ponder from time to time, because it's tricky...

Republicans want to sink the US into a recession. This has been the case since Obama took the oath.

They manifest this intent by seeking policies that every person with even a little sense on economic matters knows would tank the economy.

But the economic theories Republicans profess to believe do not say Republican policies would tank the economy.


This presents a paradox. The crazier a Republican is, a) the likelier he is to believe that destroying Obama's America is priority one, and b) the likelier he is to claim to believe as settled economic fact that slashing government spending will create an economic boom.


Does anyone ever get up at Republican caucus meetings to point out that they have to be careful lest they help the economy too much with their brilliant Republican policies and thereby benefit Obama?

Hmmmm.

It's a puzzle. Do any of them believe in their own economics? A tiny handful might, but if the caucus really believed that stuff they did they would have let Obama run up the deficit a lot more in 2010 knowing (as they would have known, if their dogmas were correct) that his doing so would cause interest rates and inflation to explode while doubling unemployment, and Obama would surely have been out of office in 2012.

[HiPointDem]

1. they don't believe it. they're just military keynesians. only social spending is evil.

[cthulu2016]

2. They seem okay with the sequester military cuts

they probably reckon that destroying the economy trumps even servicing the MIC

[HiPointDem]

3. the things that matter aren't being cut. i.e. their military contracts.

[maui902]

5. Well played with the "military Keynesians" phrase.

I get very frustrated with some of my Reppublican friends who continue to deride the Obama administration's proposals for additional stimulus, especially when I point out that many of the projects they support (such as widening of Interstate 10 between Phoenix and Tucson) were the result of the stimulus (not to mention these projects created big fat contracts for private contractors and jobs for lots of construction workers when the housing market was in the dumps). Stimulus for government-related activities (such an roads, specifically interstate highways) used to be supported by Republicans. Now, it's "socialism," unless of course, it's a new military base or submarine or fighter program. Madness.

[applegrove]

4. When George W. Bush was in power they practiced military keynesian economics and saved

the economy that way. I'm sure if it was a republican president in office they would be practicing any sort of Keynesian spending to get the economy going.