Saturday, January 26, 2008

People I wish would just shut up

Jason Lewis.

Here's one of the reasons why I wish he would just shut up.

http://www.startribune.com/opinion/commentary/14441271.html

People who learned economc theory 40 years ago in college, from 10-year-old-texts, and haven't learned anything since, should have to publish a warning: Reading this column may be hazardous to your understanding of reality.

I'm not an economics expert and don't claim to be. But neither is Lewis.

His Johnny One Note obsession against taxes and government spending leads him astray, thinking he has useful answers when he applies the big words he learned in school to the problems of the day. Jason, your pseudorationale that blames our teetering consumer economy on the looming threat of expiring tax cuts is just as silly as the stimulus plans you are mocking.

Bear in mind, I don't think we need to send everybody temporary money to spend to "save" us from recession, either. But I also don't think simplistic theories that lowering taxes to stimulate people to invest in making more stuff, or working harder (for less) to produce more stuff will do it either.

There are real, new circumstances at work in the world that are threatening more than just our economic survival. Those real, new things have unfortunately coincided with yet another example why government regulation is good for babies and other living things (i.e., subprime mortgages and lending/investment bubbles) to create a pretty scary one, two punch.

So here's what I think, Jason. Maybe we need to produce less (or at least produce what we make more sustainably) and spend more for what we buy. We should pay more because labor is paid more, not because resources cost less (won't happen anymore) or because CEOs manipulate productivity for inordinate shareholder value. Taxes don't disincent labor in America; low wages and the rapidly shrinking inventory of jobs that can pay a decent middle-class living do.

And then there's this boogeyman -- Government Spending. Oooooo, that's scary kids. Where does Jason think government spending goes? Into a black hole to another universe where it is never seen again? Or does it pay wages to laborers who work hard for their money and spend it on necessities and nice-to-haves. Or pay to buy stuff from businesses that pay people to make stuff -- or at least to pick it out from factories in China and bring it here to the U.S. of A?

Even when non-deserving people -- those who can't find jobs that pay them to work harder for less -- get welfare checks and food stamps; Hey, they're buying stuff from businesses that make stuff or fly it in from ... you know where I'm going.l

And somehow, in a global economy, where shrinking oil supplies, climate change, increasing competition with third-world countries for the natural resources that we used to steal, cheat, buy at incredibly low prices for ourselves, nations destablized by economic disparity -- etc., etc., -- I just don't think that the world's stock markets are flipping out over the possibility that George Bush II's tax cuts will expire.

If these savvy economics and investment professionals aren't secretly hoping that the US government will start figuring out how to pay for what it consumes with a realistic approach for matching revenue to spending, its likely because they belong to the "get something for nothing" crowd to which Jason belongs. As long as they've got theirs -- whether its a welfare check or the cream skimmed off the economic backs of the poor schmucks who work hard for their money -- that's all that matters. "Don't tax me for the common good, or to pay for my stupid tax-cuttin' president's stupid decisions to take us to war (It's not like it's even helpeding get us access to more oil). I know best how to spend my money, like on three TVs from China via Walmart and my big, gas-guzzling SUV to keep my family safe in my next fender bender by killing yours."

Oops. I just fell off my chair in the throes of self-righteous blather.

Anyway. I just wish Jason Lews would shut the F... up.

Over and out.

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