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cthulu2016

(10,960 posts)
3. Any economics textbook not written by a teabagger would suffice.
Thu May 24, 2012, 12:26 AM
May 2012

There is not a word in the OP that is even remotely controversial.

It's pure vanilla.

Any means by which the government borrows money and puts it into the economy is stimulative. If you give more money to the rich it is less stimulative than it should be because they will just hoard most of the money. If you give more money to the poor it is more stimulative because they will spend damn near all of it and hoard very little.

But "less" does not mean "zero"... it means "less."

Why would anybody question this? It's the basis of all liberal economic thought since at least the 1930s. The essential Keynesian insight that government borrowing can stimulate the economy means what it means. That doesn't mean it is wise to borrow to give money to the rich, but even such a foolish course would be more stimulative than zero and thus more stimulative than doing nothing.

That's not an argument for tax cuts for the rich. It is an observation about the relative stimulative effects of government actions.

The government paying to dig holes and fill them back in (as republican liars claimed FDR did) would be stimulative. But it would be better policy, if you were paying all those hole-diggers anyway, to have them do something useful like digging a needed aqueduct.

Take from the rich to give to the poor? I am all about that. Take from the rich and throw it into the ocean? Doesn't make much sense. And reducing the deficit is, at this unusual point in economic time, about as useful to the economy as throwing money into the ocean.

The fact that republicans distort basic economic precepts doesn't undermine the precepts. It only undermines republican credibility.

(I am a socialist, BTW.)

I suppose my statement that there is no downside to the deficit in current economic conditions would strike most voters as controversial, but no economist in the center or left would question it.

Recommendations

0 members have recommended this reply (displayed in chronological order):

True, Sir The Magistrate May 2012 #1
oops you forgot links to support the claims made herein. on well nt msongs May 2012 #2
Any economics textbook not written by a teabagger would suffice. cthulu2016 May 2012 #3
This ProSense May 2012 #4
Please publish your awesome refutation of Keynes cthulu2016 May 2012 #5
No ProSense May 2012 #6
not exactly true, is it hfojvt May 2012 #8
And... cthulu2016 May 2012 #10
no it has not hfojvt May 2012 #14
I agree SoutherDem May 2012 #7
Yes, you are correct. cthulu2016 May 2012 #9
Thank you for the reply SoutherDem May 2012 #12
You may wish to explore the idea of "market socialism" as a whole, if you have the time. Selatius May 2012 #16
You understand Keynes' teachings to a degree that is refreshing here. Selatius May 2012 #11
Public works program. SoutherDem May 2012 #13
Thank you for a very coherent and nuanced discussion coalition_unwilling May 2012 #15
Kick nt woo me with science May 2012 #17
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