A sampling of Harvard economist Greg Mankiw's advice for Obama:
[D]uring the campaign, you promised that you would cut taxes for 95 percent of Americans, that you would vastly expand health insurance coverage, and that you would never cut Social Security benefits or raise the retirement age. You will almost surely have to renege on some of these promises. As your economic team will often remind you, even if the laws of arithmetic are ignored during campaigns, they provide a real constraint when making actual policy.
The rest is well-worth a read. It is here.
5 comments:
"Were Obama's economic policies realistic"???
What happened - did I miss eight years here? Did anything interesting happen? Did the Cubs win the Series (heck, I hope Obama can fix that, if nothing else)?
OK Martin, fill me in. Were they realistic? Which of them actually got implemented in the past 8 years?
And riddle me this - WHAT DID THEY DO TO RUPP ARENA!!!??? WHAT THE HECK!!??
Art,
Was a post pointing out what would have been obvious to even the most casual reader in the context of the week after an election--that I was referring to his proposed policies--really worth your time?
Surely you've got better things to do.
This is what happens when you elect Republicans who think it's their job to compromise with liberals.
1. We implement liberal policies.
2. They fail.
3. Conservatism get blamed.
I'm still waiting for the explanation that will show me that sub-prime lending was the bright idea of conservatives. Even the namby-pamby liberal -- I mean, "compassionate conservative" -- Bush administration tried to point out that Fannie and Freddie were steering us toward ruin.
But all you have to do to make Republicans whimper and cower in the corner is accuse them of being bigots.
The definition of an "honest politician" is a politician who believes in the lies he tells you. Obama's economic success will depend on whether he is a true-blue leftist, or just plays one on TV. Democrats have been wanting to turn the U.S. into Europe for some time; now is their chance. In the world of political struggle, leftist rhetoric is able to work, depending on the time and situation. In the world of economics, however, it is not intentions that matter, but incentives.
< Wasila accent> Jeepers, Martin. Ya just gotta lighten up a bit. I mean...< / Wasila accent>
Art,
That's what happens when ya get on a mavricky blog like this one and start makin' rogue comments repeated from the mainstreeem media about a hard workin' Americun.
I mean, gosh golly, whad'ya expect?
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