Economic Illiteracy

Paul Krugman writes:

A not-so-funny thing happened on the way to economic recovery. Over the last two weeks, what should have been a deadly serious debate about how to save an economy in desperate straits turned, instead, into hackneyed political theater, with Republicans spouting all the old clichés about wasteful government spending and the wonders of tax cuts.

...

So what should Mr. Obama do? Count me among those who think that the president made a big mistake in his initial approach, that his attempts to transcend partisanship ended up empowering politicians who take their marching orders from Rush Limbaugh. What matters now, however, is what he does next.

"Post-partisanship" does not work as a negotiating tactic if the other side is not arguing in good faith. The Republicans exploited the automaker bailout to try and eliminate union power in that industry, not to protect jobs or the economy. They're doing the same now with the Employee Free Choice Act, and desperately trying to dilute the stimulus bill with tax cuts so that they don't suffer a completely black and white repudiation of their self-serving, supply-side, economic policies. After all, they can't be so stupid that they actually believe tax cuts are the answer to the current crisis.



...can they? Ignorance and malice are often very hard to tell apart.