oldfart
Older than dirt
I'm not referring to the uncertainty itself, which is demonstrably much higher now than in the recent past, but to the issue as a driving force in economic policy. The gnashing of teeth over economic uncertainty has disappeared as an argument from the Right just as it should have become more important.
So what does it mean that the Right is no longer agonizing over economic uncertainly and demanding action to return certainty to the economy? Do we not need more jobs? Is the recovery complete?
My answer is that this was never a serious argument from the beginning, just as fiscal responsibility has never been a serious argument from the Right in the last three decades. It's just a code for cutting anything that benefits the lowest 99.9% of the population and passing on the money to the wealthy and big corporations.
In France the Right is outraged that the budget is moving into balance. Why? Because the government did it by raising taxes, not cutting spending. So the deficit never was the issue, reducing benefits were. Surprise, surprise.
In America the deficit is also falling rapidly, due to a combination of real cuts to spending, a modest tax increase, and a faltering economic recovery. Not a sign of increased certainty anywhere. Why not just declare victory and move on to something other than manufactured debt crises? Because it's not about the debt to begin with.
I have always believed in politics as well as economics in the use of models. It doesn't matter if the model conforms to what the institution, individual or group says is their decision process, as long as it predicts their behavior consistently. And what consistently predicts behavior of the Right around the world time after time is raw short-term self-interest and class warfare. They favor anything that redistributes income upward. Period. That's it. Nothing else added to the regression increases the explanatory power of the model, one variable is all that is needed.
Note that I did not say that the groups involved on the Right did not believe what they say, many of them do. But they ACT like the only thing that matters is a monomaniacal dedication to dismantling the social safety net, exploiting labor worldwide, and with few constraints redistributing all income to themselves.
Oh, they generally don't like gays and abortion either, but they can put that aside if there is money to be made.
Peace all.
So what does it mean that the Right is no longer agonizing over economic uncertainly and demanding action to return certainty to the economy? Do we not need more jobs? Is the recovery complete?
My answer is that this was never a serious argument from the beginning, just as fiscal responsibility has never been a serious argument from the Right in the last three decades. It's just a code for cutting anything that benefits the lowest 99.9% of the population and passing on the money to the wealthy and big corporations.
In France the Right is outraged that the budget is moving into balance. Why? Because the government did it by raising taxes, not cutting spending. So the deficit never was the issue, reducing benefits were. Surprise, surprise.
In America the deficit is also falling rapidly, due to a combination of real cuts to spending, a modest tax increase, and a faltering economic recovery. Not a sign of increased certainty anywhere. Why not just declare victory and move on to something other than manufactured debt crises? Because it's not about the debt to begin with.
I have always believed in politics as well as economics in the use of models. It doesn't matter if the model conforms to what the institution, individual or group says is their decision process, as long as it predicts their behavior consistently. And what consistently predicts behavior of the Right around the world time after time is raw short-term self-interest and class warfare. They favor anything that redistributes income upward. Period. That's it. Nothing else added to the regression increases the explanatory power of the model, one variable is all that is needed.
Note that I did not say that the groups involved on the Right did not believe what they say, many of them do. But they ACT like the only thing that matters is a monomaniacal dedication to dismantling the social safety net, exploiting labor worldwide, and with few constraints redistributing all income to themselves.
Oh, they generally don't like gays and abortion either, but they can put that aside if there is money to be made.
Peace all.
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