Bill's Notes

Stimulus
It's unbelievable, just unbelievable. Twenty-eight years of reform, much of it bipartisan, down the drain in a couple of weeks. I don't know what to say, which is why I'm not blogging much anymore. We conservatives may come back electorally, but it'll be unlikely we'll be able to roll these kinds of spending increases in our lifetimes. The country will repeat the mistakes of the late 60s and 70s, but this time, with a nuclear Iran.
Chris (mail) (www):
Well, we made the mistakes of the 60s and 70s with a nuclear USSR. Don't despair, my friend. If this stimulus package shows anything, it's that the work of many decades can be undone quickly. This cuts both ways: Reagan undid much of the work of many decades in a few years, after all.

And we might finally be coming to the point where the conservatives of 50 years ago will finally be dying off, to give us new, more principled conservatives (since the young are almost always more principled than the old).
2.12.2009 12:29pm
Eric Blair (mail) (www):
Well, I'm not that afraid of a nuclear Iran. They're really more a threat to their neighbors. Who will end up dealing with them one way or another. What was it that Mencken said about the people getting the government they deserve, good and hard?
2.12.2009 12:39pm
:
I'm pissed because the payroll tax cut got reduced from $500 to $400. To hell with expanding the earned income tax credit and extending unemployment benefits and all these make-work construction jobs, I want mine, dammit!!!

Shit. I think I just became a Republican.
2.15.2009 8:46pm
Bill (mail) (www):
You're close ... not quite there yet, though. "I want mine" from the government is Democratic thinking. "I want to keep more of what I've earned by generating wealth in the marketplace and I don't want the government taking it and spending it on their utopian fantasies" is Republican thinking. Maybe I'll write a blog post on it.
2.18.2009 8:28am
Jim Cook:
So what happens if the thing actually works and the economy does improve? Would that turn conservative economic theory on its head? Would the GOP then be "Herbert Hooverized" for the next few election cycles?

I think the GOP is running a real risk of being completely marginalized, which is bad, because we need two competitive parties. Of course, about four years ago the Dems were in about the same shape, so maybe their strength is being overstated in the media.
2.19.2009 11:42am
Bill (mail) (www):
If the thing works, real or accidental, then bully for the Democrats. It would turn conservative economic theory on its head, and the GOP would be out of power for a long time. But we'd all be doing fine, so who cares who's in charge of DC? It's only the Democrats who want power in DC; the GOP is almost exclusively a defensive party dedicated to stopping the Democrats from doing whatever bad, stupid, evil thing comes into their head.

Yes, the GOP is having a rough go of it, but defense gets tiring. And yeah, it's the same situation the Dems were in only a few years ago. The only real thing the GOP has going for it is that they're playing the Democrats.
2.19.2009 7:43pm
Bill (mail) (www):
Anyway, the point is, I hope it works. I don't know if it will. I'm beginning to think there may be something to the Asian Times' columnist Spengler's assertion that the underlying demand problem we're suffering from is caused by generation size. That is, the Baby Boomers are retiring. They don't need as much. The next generation is smaller, and so are the others. But I don't really know what's going on economically, which is why I'm limiting my blogging.
2.19.2009 9:43pm
:
I just wonder if this crisis will be the definitive test of which economic principles work best, those advocated by the Republicans or those by the Democrats. I'm of the belief that different circumstances call for different responses. In some circumstances a deregulatory hands-off policy may be the answer, while in others a more regulatory, socialistic model might be the answer. I don't think either model is the model that must be used at all times. Sort of like how you don't use a hammer for screws or a screwdriver for nails. Of course, the hard part is figuring out when to use what tool.
3.5.2009 4:51pm

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