Saturday, August 6, 2011

Former George W Bush speechwriter: Krugman was right - Salon

When David Frum, former speechwriter for George W. Bush, says nice things about Paul Krugman it's worth taking notice. Krugman was one of Bush's toughest critics; to suggest that he was correct in his savage evisceration of Bush's economic policies is apostasy of the highest order.

But Frum goes even further than that in his post "Were Our Enemies Right?" Frum suggests that the entire conservative movement has fundamentally misunderstood how to manage the economy.  There is precious little evidence that the conservative camp -- outside of a few ostracized-and-excommunicated conservatives like Frum or Bruce Bartlett -- has changed its views on economic issues one whit.

Far from it -- they've doubled down! The federal tax burden has reached a 60-year low -- and they are still pushing for further tax cuts. A deregulated financial sector contributed to the excesses that caused the financial crisis, and they're still fighting, tooth-and-nail, every attempt at reregulation. History and economics tell us that cutting government spending in a period of low or negative economic growth runs a severe risk of slowing growth even further, and yet they've made deficit reduction their primary political goal.

The full article is available here