Sigh… Krugs is at it again. Chuggin’ that Bush-Evil Train around and around… It’s yet more proof of why they call economics the miserable science, or something to that effect. In liberal-land Bush is responsible for all evils in the world, from recession to warm salad forks.
Yawn…
I submitted the comment below to his column’s (The Unwisdom of Elites) assertion that $2T of the $14T on America’s balance sheet is due to the Bush tax cuts. Kryst… Does he not realize people have Google ferkryssakes!
I’d LOVE to know where you got your $2T Bush tax cut number, big guy, because TWO of your favorite sources for data say YOU ARE WRONG, The Tax Policy Foundation an the CBO:
TPF QUOTE -> MYTH 4. The Bush tax cuts are the main cause of the budget deficit. — …They are NOT the main cause of the sizable deficit that exists today. In 2007, well after the tax cuts took effect, the budget deficit stood at 1.2 percent of GDP. By 2009, it had increased to 9.9 percent of the economy. The Bush tax cuts DIDN’T CHANGE between 2007 and 2009, (‘the last three years’) SO CLEARLY SOMETHING ELSE IS TO BLAME.
TPF SOURCE -> August 3, 2010 50 The Tax Policy Center Five Myths about the Bush Tax Cut ~ http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/publications/url.cfm?ID=1001423
CBO QUOTE -> There is NO WAY to precisely identify the actual effects of those tax changes from budget data. Measuring the actual impact of the legislation would require gauging what revenues an economic performance WOULD HAVE BEEN in the absence of the legislation then comparing those outcomes to those that occurred with the legislation. SUCH COMPARISONS ARE IMPOSSIBLE to do with any precision
CBO SOURCE -> The above excerpt was taken from a May 11, 2010 letter from Douglas W. Elmendorf, Director of the C.B.O. to Representative Maurice Hinchey (D-NY) and you can find it here -> http://www.cbo.gov/ftpdocs/114xx/doc11492/HincheyLtr.pdf
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