I’ve narrated a video on why Keynesian economics is bad theory, I’ve also narrated a video specifically debunking Obama’s failed stimulus, and I’ve put together a post with data from the Minneapolis Fed showing how Reaganomics worked far better than Obamanomics.
But this video from the Center for Freedom and Prosperity Foundation does all that – and more – in only about six minutes.
By the way, for those who like gory details, a previous video in the CF&P Foundation’s Economics 101 series looked at how the so-called stimulus was a rat’s nest of waste and corruption.
Not that anybody should be surprised. Big government facilitates corruption in the same way that a dumpster attracts rats and cockroaches.
My concern is long-term trends. Politicians should be complying with Mitchell’s Golden Rule, which means reducing government spending as a share of GDP (to put it in terms that make economists feel warm and fuzzy, gov’t exp/GDP should be decreasing).
What irks me about Obama is that he wants to increase the burden of government spending, which means the numerator in the equation is going in the wrong direction. And he wants class-warfare tax policy and more red tape, which makes it even harder for the denominator to move in the right direction.
And if that ratio continues to deteriorate, as both the BIS and OECD are predicting, then it’s just a matter of time before the United States becomes Greece.
P.S. Welcome Instapundit readers. This Chuck Asay cartoon and this Michael Ramirez cartoon use humor to say the same thing as the video.
[…] DAN MITCHELL: Obamanomics: The Dismal Record. […]
[…] …is an abject, miserable failure. […]
[…] video put together by Daniel J. Mitchell. A MUST […]
Reblogged this on Gds44's Blog.
we are greece…we’ve just not admitted it yet…
[…] Dan Mitchell gives it his seal of approval, and links to supporting data: I’ve narrated a video on why Keynesian economics is bad theory, I’ve also narrated a video specifically debunking Obama’s failed stimulus, and I’ve put together a post with data from the Minneapolis Fed showing how Reaganomics worked far better than Obamanomics. […]
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The most ominous of all effects is that, as natural human nature enforces, there is a positive feedback loop to decline.
As the ratio mentioned in the post deteriorates and economic stress at the voter level increases, the electorate will automatically reach for more “government help”. The irreversible cycle deepens. Once you start circling the drain, as we started about a decade ago after the 9/11 attacks, there is no escape. There will be temporary respites and minor corrections from excess, but nonetheless the overriding effect will be one: DECLINE.
Can you imagine the American people not only halting their march towards mandatory collectivism, but also rolling back all the HopNChange they have so enthusiastically been supporting for so long?
I don’t.
The iceberg has been hit. Ignore it at your own peril.
This wasn’t really Obama’s doing so much as a happy accident (for him) of history, but liberalism hasn’t had any kind of even semi-coherent economic underpinning in decades and just as he gets elected the Krugmanites managed to muscle into enough journals and microphones to drown out (or shout down) every other voice. 80s, 90s, and 00s liberalism essentially acknowledged that economic growth would suffer under their policies (or perhaps not affect it at all), but that it was a moral imperative because of compassion and fairness (in their estimation). Obama himself was regurgitating that idea even in his campaign when he noted that he endorsed higher tax rates on the wealthy _even if it reduced tax revenues_, which is as crazy class warfare as you can get (and if you’ve ever asked yourself if it was more important to liberals to tax the rich or feed the poor, well you’ve got your answer).
But enter the revitalized neo-Keynesians (neo because they only latch onto the bits of Keynes theories that suit their ideological bent and glibly ignore the rest, these folks are activists, not economists, whatever their credentials say). Suddenly liberals have a new plan- instead of ‘tax and spend’ its ‘spend then tax’. In these circles this is considered a nobel quality strategic insight. Now not only is government spending good for society, its good for the economy! Better yet, even wasteful, pointless, graft filled public spending is useful in its own right, removing the insipid burden of making sure vast government spending at least pretends to be effective, let alone efficient. That was entirely too time consuming, and indeed an acknowledged losing battle. But now, magically, it didnt matter any more. The more you spend the more you gain, so surely later on there will be even more money to throw at the worthy causes and hope some lands on a needy person from time to time.
Well, reality has had its opinion read into the record, so it can be hoped that this economic travesty will find its way into the dustbin of lunatic theories beside perpetual motion machines and social security. Its to be hoped that some level of fiscal and economic sanity can be reintroduced into the public discourse at last.
[…] under seven minutes.Isn’t it too bad that these videos aren’t shown in our schools?Via Dan MitchellTweetvaso linkgoogle_ad_client = "ca-pub-1395656889568144"; /* 300×250, created 8/11/08 */ […]
The video understates the problem and its implications for the future…
It is not simply a matter of slower recovery i.e. taking longer to get back to normal. It is the permanent and irreversible suppression of the US growth trendline and, even worse, setting the stage for a desperate electorate to demand ever more collective majoritarian management of the economy i.e. more government. It is the irreversible spiral to decline. The economic gimmicks used to mask the price signals that American people need to compete in the global marketplace (and maintain a six times world average prosperity) will not buy much time and will only make the final decline more turbulent.
[…] the Obama political game plan, but I did enjoy this pair of Glen McCoy cartoons (and, given Obama’s weak track record on the economy, I do think there is a lot of truth to the notion that the White House would rather the election be […]
[…] A review of the Obama’s dismal track record on jobs and growth. […]
[…] A review of the Obama’s dismal track record on jobs and growth. […]
[…] A review of the Obama’s dismal track record on jobs and growth. […]
[…] A review of the Obama’s dismal track record on jobs and growth. […]
[…] A review of the Obama’s dismal track record on jobs and growth. […]
Ultimate Demon seems to provide this kind of wider number of back-links for an affordable expense.
Very happy
[…] Not exactly a ringing endorsement of Obamanomics. […]