Clintonism, Monicagate and the budget

[Brad De Long]

>Most of the institutions that would be behind such a thing - unions,
>liberal think tanks, advocacy groups - are in Clinton's pocket. Some
>liberal economists, like Alicia Munnell, Brad de Long and James Tobin -
>actually signed a petition endorsing Clinton's debt paydown. Perhaps Brad
>can tell us why.
>
>Doug

I've already had (and lost) one e-mail argument with Max over this, but...

Look: give me Speaker Gephardt and I would be arguing that we need more
public investment, and that using surpluses to expand public investment and
social insurance is better than using surpluses to pay down the debt.

That's not the choice we have: our Speaker is not named Gephardt. Our
choice this year and next year is between tax cuts for the rich and debt
paydowns. I wish that things were different--I could wish for that optimism
of the will that would drive us to a substantial expansion of public
investment in the next two years--but intellect ought to enter somewhere,
and intellect should be used to make things as least pessimistic as
possible.

Brad DeLong