(Note, I guarantee anyone who pops up to say that macroeconomists can be believed will not be making the general case, but will have a short list of macroeconomists to really believe.)

((Tyler gets scary again))

Let me reply by quoting Milton Friedman:

The role of the economist in discussions of public policy seems to me to be to prescribe what should be done in light of what can be done, politics aside, and not to predict what is "politically feasible" and then to recommend it.
permanent link

What I don't like is this seeming idea that we can take the good half of the crowd response (the bubble) and then decry the obvious result. Bubbles don't last. That's what makes them bubbles.

It is NOT because a politician came out of his house one morning and said "look, a bubble!"

(Shorter: If more people had remembered to fear bubble, THEN this never would have happened.)

In an extraordinary admission about the severity of the economic downturn, Ed Balls even predicted that its effects would still be felt 15 years from now. The Schools Secretary's comments carry added weight because he is a former chief economic adviser to the Treasury and regarded as one of the Prime Ministers's closest allies.

Mr Balls said yesterday: "The reality is that this is becoming the most serious global recession for, I'm sure, over 100 years, as it will turn out."

I don't believe Mr. Balls is a Democrat.

'ridiculously premature exclamations of "greatest economic disaster since the Great Depression."'

as opposed to "wrong"? Those bad guys, saying the truth too early.

"wailing about irrational exuberance" ... as opposed to believing that prices really do always go up?

So basically, and in accordance with how the last 8 years turned out, I would just find out what the GOP wants to do, and do the opposite. Since they're against the stimulus, it's pretty clear that it's the right thing to do.

Well, there's such a thing as self-fulfilling prophecy. I have no doubt that much of the current downturn is real. But years of wailing about housing bubbles and irrational exuberance take their toll. Not to mention ridiculously premature exclamations of "greatest economic disaster since the Great Depression."

George Will: "this imaginary recession..."

Phill Gramm: "This is a mental recession..."

John McCain: "The fundamentals of the economy are strong..."

Republican National Congressional Committee: "Thanks to Republican economic policies, the U.S. economy is robust and job creation is strong.

Republican tax cuts are creating jobs and continuing to strengthen the economy"

So basically, and in accordance with how the last 8 years turned out, I would just find out what the GOP wants to do, and do the opposite. Since they're against the stimulus, it's pretty clear that it's the right thing to do.

Which is why guys like me who believe government can do little good here, and perhaps much bad, and can grouse with the best of'm about it.....need to understand we are pissing up a rope and take the least bad option as a concession to political reality. DS seems correct: solve for the least amount of damage that gets us through politicalworld.

Heading for the shower now...