LK,
Glad you read it. We must have read different versions, since mine is subtitled "The Inside Story of the Reagan Revolution", and contains the story I related. I'll try to find the page cite over the weekend, time permitting.
"It's funny how a bleeding heart neoKeynesian like you <g> would so heartily recommend a book by an unabashed hard money supply sider."
Yes, well, he makes a lot of sense. "NeoKeynesians", as you correctly label me, don't commend wasteful government spending any more than Stockman. That is a caricature that Republicans have hurled at Democrats for a long time, at least since Roosevelt and probably before. Not that Democratic politicians haven't been guilty, but Republican politicians are at least as guilty. As you say in the end, "Everybody else was gutless, venal, demagogic, pork-pushing, stupid, or some combination of the above. In short, they were politicians."
As I recall the book, Stockman recommended raising taxes given the fact that the military buildup was considered politically necessary. Also, even though we are living with the debt buildup from that period without apparent effect, it sits like a syphlitic virus in our system, ready to burst after years of dormancy. I'm not sure that the verdict is really out yet about its longer term effects. Minimally, it limits any flexibility we have in dealing with future crises (which may be coming sooner than we would like). |
