Joe Conason: Voodoo Economics Still Isn’t a Plan

[marmar]

from truthdig:



Voodoo Economics Still Isn’t a Plan

Posted on Aug 17, 2012
By Joe Conason


By naming Paul Ryan as the Republican vice presidential nominee, Mitt Romney has endorsed what used to be known as “voodoo economics”—and restored that special brand of Republican superstition to the center of national debate.

To take Ryan seriously, as all too many pundits and politicians insist we must, requires everyone to behave as if the plans he produced as House Budget Committee chairman represent a meaningful effort to improve the nation’s fiscal future. Sooner or later, however, real analysts will scrutinize the Ryan budget using honest math instead of humbug and magic.

In fact, they already have done so—and that is where the myth of Ryan as a serious, scrupulous and bold reformer begins to disintegrate.

As close observers know, the Wisconsin congressman wants to cut taxes for the wealthiest Americans even more sharply than George W. Bush, whose tax policies caused the bulk of the deficits that provoke so much righteous anger among Republicans like Ryan today. In Ryan’s budget, his tax cuts leave an enormous revenue gap, even with the absurdly destructive spending cuts he also proposes. ................(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/voodoo_economics_still_isnt_a_plan_20120817/

[Lefty Thinker]

1. Americans are worried about debt

They have their own personal debts, many of which are unreasonably high, and they look at the federal government debt, see a gigantic number associated with the term "debt," and draw a comparison. The problem is that the federal government is very different from an individual American. The real problem for a government that prints the currency it borrows in is never specifically the debt but rather current and future real output (goods and services). Money, including debt, is just a tool to control and increase real output.

So Ryan's plan is missing the forest for the trees: cutting spending among the working and middle classes means a reduction in future real output just to purportedly reduce an expected debt that does not, in itself, cause problems.