[lbo-talk] C. Romer and J. Bernstein: Job impact of the AARP

Julio Huato juliohuato at gmail.com
Sun Jan 11 08:50:54 PST 2009


Michael wrote:


> The terrible thing about this is that it seems to show that
> the business incentive tax cuts weren't put into this program
> to appease the Republicans. They were put in there because
> they really believe in them. They believe that even though
> they provide "less bang for buck" they provide the fastest bang
> for buck, and a substantial one at that. They seem to see
> them as an indispensable counterweight to longer-term
> investment. It looks like they include them in such proportions
> precisely because they want to put in the green jobs stuff.

I've read two attempts to rationalize their approach. They are in Brad DeLong's blog:

(1) emphasis on sheer technical difficulty, lag, and politics (http://delong.typepad.com/sdj/2009/01/the-obama-fiscal-boost-a-note.html ) and, (2) emphasis on progressive effect on equity (http://delong.typepad.com/sdj/2009/01/note-to-self-the-tax-cut-component-of-the-obama-fiscal-plan.html).

I'm not convinced.

My take is that we should take this admission of meekness by the designers of the Obama plan as a "Make me do it" tease. More here:

http://juliohuato.wordpress.com/2009/01/09/making-obama-do-it-2/



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