Did I miss something to obsess about?
Today I received an e-mail from the folks at Democracy: A Journal of Ideas imploring me to check out Bernard Schwartz and Sherle Schwenninger’s article, “Public Investment Works.” The one-sentence summary of the argument: BLS Chairman Bernard Schwartz and New America Foundation Senior Fellow Sherle Schwenninger posit that in an age of decaying infrastructure and ...
Today I received an e-mail from the folks at Democracy: A Journal of Ideas imploring me to check out Bernard Schwartz and Sherle Schwenninger's article, "Public Investment Works." The one-sentence summary of the argument: BLS Chairman Bernard Schwartz and New America Foundation Senior Fellow Sherle Schwenninger posit that in an age of decaying infrastructure and failing schools, we can - and must - eschew our obsession with balanced budgets and find ways to make smart public-works investments. (emphasis added)Um.... how do I put this.... was I in a coma when this obsession gripped the country? President Bush and most of the Republican members of Congress haven't cared much about balanced budgets for some time. As for the Democrats, in this century,* the only griping about fiscal rectitude came during the first term of the Bush administration, mostly as a way to attack Bush's fiscal policy. During the second term, I keep reading folks like Paul Krugman articulate the exact same set of talking points as Schwartz and Schwenninger. What does someone like Hillary Clinton -- whome one would assume to be closest in spirit to her husband's legacy -- think about this? Let's go to her economic speech from last year: We can return to fiscal discipline. We can invest in infrastructure, research and education, jump start a smarter energy future, promote manufacturing, rein in healthcare costs. And we can do it in ways that renew the basic bargain with America's middle class. There's certainly a nod to fiscal discipline -- but she seems way more keen on those infrastructure investments to me. Seriously, has anyone out there been obsessed about reducing the deficit in recent years? *It's certainly true that, way, way back in the nineties, key parts of Clinton's team were fiscal hawks. Even then, however, folks like Bob Reich were hell-bent on infrastructure investments. UPDATE: Ah, I see the problem now -- I'm "too knowledgeable". Truly an unusual problem for your humble blogger.
Today I received an e-mail from the folks at Democracy: A Journal of Ideas imploring me to check out Bernard Schwartz and Sherle Schwenninger’s article, “Public Investment Works.” The one-sentence summary of the argument:
BLS Chairman Bernard Schwartz and New America Foundation Senior Fellow Sherle Schwenninger posit that in an age of decaying infrastructure and failing schools, we can – and must – eschew our obsession with balanced budgets and find ways to make smart public-works investments. (emphasis added)
Um…. how do I put this…. was I in a coma when this obsession gripped the country? President Bush and most of the Republican members of Congress haven’t cared much about balanced budgets for some time. As for the Democrats, in this century,* the only griping about fiscal rectitude came during the first term of the Bush administration, mostly as a way to attack Bush’s fiscal policy. During the second term, I keep reading folks like Paul Krugman articulate the exact same set of talking points as Schwartz and Schwenninger. What does someone like Hillary Clinton — whome one would assume to be closest in spirit to her husband’s legacy — think about this? Let’s go to her economic speech from last year:
We can return to fiscal discipline. We can invest in infrastructure, research and education, jump start a smarter energy future, promote manufacturing, rein in healthcare costs. And we can do it in ways that renew the basic bargain with America’s middle class.
There’s certainly a nod to fiscal discipline — but she seems way more keen on those infrastructure investments to me. Seriously, has anyone out there been obsessed about reducing the deficit in recent years? *It’s certainly true that, way, way back in the nineties, key parts of Clinton’s team were fiscal hawks. Even then, however, folks like Bob Reich were hell-bent on infrastructure investments. UPDATE: Ah, I see the problem now — I’m “too knowledgeable“. Truly an unusual problem for your humble blogger.
Daniel W. Drezner is a professor of international politics at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University and co-host of the Space the Nation podcast. Twitter: @dandrezner
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