The 2013 budget came out today and the President Obama seems to be agreeing with the Republican dogma that balancing the budget is more important than growing the economy. Either the president is drinking their Kool-Aide or he thinks the economy is stronger than all the evidence shows. From Marketwatch:
Although the economy remains weak and unemployment is still elevated, Obama proposes the sharpest contraction in fiscal policy in more than 40 years. And, in the midst of those tax increases and spending reductions, he’s predicting a booming economy growing well above the economy’s long-run potential for the next six years — averaging an incredible 3.6%.
In short, Obama is agreeing with his Republican critics who say that what the economy really needs right now is a rapid move toward balanced budgets. By contrast, Keynesian economists would say that reducing budget deficits now, when we still have so much slack in the economy, would slow growth. They recommend running high deficits until the economy is stronger, and then moving to balance.
The last time the government tightened fiscal policy that much was in 1969, when a 10% income tax surcharge was implemented to pay for the Vietnam War. The immediate results were terrific in one sense: the federal budget was balanced in 1969, the only time it was balanced between 1960 and 1998.
Unfortunately, the balanced budget was a major cause of the recession that began in December 1969. All too often over the past 90 years, attempts to reduce deficits or increases surplus have contributed to ensuing recessions.
For 2013, the CBO projects growth of just 1% (as opposed to 3% in the White House budget), largely because of austerity measures. According to the CBO, growth could be as high as 4.1% next year if the government delayed its plans to reduce the deficits.
In short, someone's wrong: either Obama or the CBO. Welcome to 1937.
1 comment:
Is this his Coolidge moment
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