Boehner's Betting You Don't Understand Economics
THERE'S NO WAY SPENDING CUTS LEAD TO JOB CREATION: FELIX SALMON
By Kevin Spak, Newser Staff
newser.com
Posted Jul 8, 2011 3:20 PM CDT
(NEWSER) – John Boehner reacted to today’s brutal jobs report with a batch of his typical economic nonsense, writes Felix Salmon of Reuters. “Republicans are focused on jobs, and are ready to stop Washington from spending money it doesn’t have,” declared Boehner, calling for more federal spending cuts. “Does John Boehner know what paychecks are made of?” Salmon wonders. “Paychecks are made of money: they’re spending.”
No matter where you stand on the deficit, “it’s downright bonkers to think that, at the margin, government spending reduces job creation,” while spending cuts foster it, Salmon argues. “There’s simply no magical ju-jitsu whereby government spending cuts get reversed and amplified, becoming larger private-sector spending increases.” Boehner has to realize that, making his rhetoric “a cynical play on our nation’s economic illiteracy.” This crisis demands serious answers—“Instead, the House majority is giving us aggressively harmful stupidity.” |
