 |
| The results of GOP economic policy |
Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan keep on whining that the economy has not improved as much as voters would have liked under Barack Obama. Of course, they conveniently leave out the fact that the GOP controlled House of Representatives has continually blocked efforts by the Obama administration that would have made the economy better. The GOP goal from day one has been to see Obama not re-elected and whatever economic mayhem that might be needed to do this - or the number of Americans harmed in the process - has never been an issue for the GOP. They done all they can to destroy the economy and then complain about the outcome and say that it's Obama's fault rather than their own. But there are additional reasons to fear the GOP and a Romney/Ryan administration: they want to do precisely what has failed to work in Europe. It's another case of GOP arrogance - or should we say stupidity? - where they can never learn from the experience of others. A column in the New York Times looks at the potential disaster of a Romney/Ryan administration. Here are excerpts:
Mitt Romney’s best argument on the campaign trail has been simple: Under President Obama, the American economy has remained excruciatingly weak, far underperforming the White House’s own projections.
But Obama’s best response could be this: If you want to see how Romney’s economic policies would work out, take a look at Europe. And weep.In the last few years, Germany and Britain, in particular, have implemented precisely the policies that Romney favors, and they have been richly praised by Republicans here as a result. Yet these days those economies seem, to use a German technical term, kaput.Is Europe a fair comparison? Well, Republicans seem to think so, because they came up with it. In the last few years, they’ve repeatedly cited Republican-style austerity in places like Germany and Britain as a model for America.Let’s dial back the time machine and listen up: “Europe is already setting an example for the U.S.,” Representative Kenny Marchant, a Texas Republican, said in 2010. (You know things are bad when a Texas Republican is calling for Americans to study at the feet of those socialist Europeans.)The same year, Karl Rove praised European austerity as a model for America and approvingly quoted the leader of the European Central Bank as saying: “The idea that austerity measures could trigger stagnation is incorrect.”O.K. Let’s see how that’s working out. New Jersey isn’t overseas, but since Sessions and many other Republicans have hailed it as a shining model of austerity, let’s start there. New Jersey ranked 47th in economic growth last year. When Gov. Chris Christie took office in 2010 and began to impose austerity measures, New Jersey ranked 35th in its unemployment rate; now it ranks 48th.The International Monetary Fund this month downgraded its estimates for global economic growth, with only one major bright spot in the West. That would be the United States, expected to grow a bit more than 2 percent this year and next.In contrast, Europe’s economy is expected to shrink this year and have negligible growth next year. The I.M.F. projects that Germany will grow less than 1 percent this year and next, while Britain’s economy is contracting this year.All this is exactly what economic textbooks predicted. Since Keynes, it’s been understood that, in a downturn, governments should go into deficit to stimulate demand; that’s how we got out of the Great Depression. And recent European data and I.M.F. analyses underscore that austerity in the middle of a downturn not only doesn’t help but leads to even higher ratios of debt to economic output.So, yes, Republicans have a legitimate point about the long-term need to curb deficits and entitlement growth. But, no, it isn’t reasonable for Republicans to advocate austerity in the middle of a downturn. On that, they’re empirically wrong.
The results are in. And, as Representative King suggested, the lessons “ought to hit all of us here in this country.”
No comments:
Post a Comment