Stockman: Keynesian GOP For The Wealthy

David Stockman, one-time Wonder Boy federal budget director under Ronald Reagan and one of the architects of the failed trickle-down "supply side" theory of economics, wrote a long opinion column in Sunday's NY Times.  It's a gloomy indicment of U.S. economic policy over the past hundred years, filled with impenetrable numbers and nomenclature that put most people to sleep -- a good illustration of why economics is known as The Dismal Science.

Stockman, who's a less-than-credible prophet, believes we're doomed, and he's an equal-opportunity finger-pointer -- he blames everybody in both parties (everybody, that is, except himself).  If you want to read the full article, you're a glutton for punishment, and you can find it online.

I'll share just one little paragraph that made me chuckle:

"The 'deficits don't matter' destruction of fiscal rectitude under Ronald Reagan -- one reason I resigned as his budget chief in 1985 -- was the greatest of his many dramatic acts.  It created a template for the Republicans' utter abandonment of balanced-budget policies and allowed George W. Bush to dive into the deep end, bankrupting the nation through two misbegotten and unfinanced wars, a giant expansion of Medicare, and a tax-cutting spree for the wealthy that turned the K Street lobbyists into the de facto office of national tax policy.  In effect, the GOP embraced Keynesianism -- for the wealthy."

Stockman may still be a shady, self-serving little shit, but in those three sentences he told the truth.