From Common Dreams: http://www.commondreams.org/view/2013/04/02
by John Atcheson
Published on Tuesday, April 2, 2013 by Common Dreams
Can a society become psychotic? Certainly a quick look at our national political dialogue would suggest that’s precisely what’s happening.
Let’s start with what passes for rational discussion on the economy.
For going on 30 years now, the Washington Asylum has focused on the debate between a collection of insanely passionate shrink-the-government-until-you-can-drown-it-in-the-bath tub supply-siders on the one hand, and … well … a collection of folks who embrace a more progressive economic agenda every four years, but seem to feel strongly about both sides of the issue in between.
Meanwhile, empirical evidence shows that the shrink the government side of the argument is counter-factual, destructive, and leads to Great Recessions, record-breaking income disparity, human want and deprivation.
So what do the Shrinkers advocate? More shrinking, of course, in the form of austerity budgets.
But as Paul Krugman pointed out, once again reality caught up with the Shrinkers. The high interest rates and economic catastrophe that debt and deficits were supposed to cause, failed to happen. In fact, the deficit is shrinking, interest rates are near all time lows, and the economy is growing – slowly, but certainly much faster than in countries that tried the austerity route.
Did this evidence cause the Shrinkers to change their position? Nope. Like a lunatic insisting he’s Napoleon despite all evidence to the contrary, the free marketeers simply came up with a new reason for austerity – deficits are a moral issue.
Continue reading at: http://www.commondreams.org/view/2013/04/02
