Showing posts with label amnesia is the best nesia. Show all posts
Showing posts with label amnesia is the best nesia. Show all posts

Monday, August 20, 2012

Matt Yglesias: Amnesiac

In an otherwise sensible post explaining how capacity utilization is back to normal while industrial output lags behind trend, Matt says something truly remarkable:

"This highlights the very real and very high costs of achieving economic recovery by simply letting things run their course."

Wait, what?

Maybe Matt and I are subjects in different simulations, but I don't think that's what happened at all.

What about the nearly $800 billion stimulus?

What about bailing out GM?

What about "cash for clunkers"?

What about cutting the payroll tax for two years?

What about extending the Bush tax cuts?

What about the repeated extension of unemployment benefits?

"Simply letting things run their course" is about the last thing that's actually happened in the past 4 years.