There Goes the Economist Vote
Economists from all over the political spectrum haven't liked the gas-tax holiday idea since it landed in the middle of the presidential campaign last month. But Hillary Clinton's ABC appearance on Sunday has provoked a whole new round of outrage.
“I think we’ve been for the last seven years seeing a tremendous amount of government power and elite opinion basically behind policies that haven’t worked well for the middle class and hard-working Americans,” Clinton said when asked if there were any economists out there who actually like the plan. "I'm not going to put in my lot with economists."
That was enough to get Robert Reich, Bill Clinton's secretary of labor, all worked up:
In case you’ve missed it, we now have a president who doesn’t care what most economists think. George W. Bush doesn’t even care what scientists think. He rejects all experts who disagree with his politics. This has led to some extraordinarily stupid policies.
I’m not saying HRC is George Bush. And I'm not suggesting economists have all the answers. But when economists tell a president or a presidential candidate that his or her idea is dumb – and when all respectable economists around America agree that it’s a dumb idea – it’s probably wise for the president or presidential candidate to listen. When the president or candidate doesn’t, and proudly defends the policy by saying she's "not going to put my lot in with economists,” we’ve got a problem, folks.
Don't expect a big crowd at the next Economists For Clinton luncheon.
Comments:
Posted 05/05/2008 12:03pm with
Funny, but everybody seems to be missing what Clinton has actually said about this: that any gas tax holiday would have to be paid for with a windfall profits tax on oil companies. Now, nobody expects that to happen, including Clinton, so what she has done is counter McCain directly, not by conceding the gas tax holiday, but by insisting that it be paid for. That way she deprives him of the issue, without signing on to what Reich and others agree would be silly anyhow.
But, of course, every issue needs to fit on a bumper sticker, so now the Obamapress is reporting that Clinton is “for” a gas tax holiday.
It’s pathetic that the “sophisticated” political pundits can’t, or won’t, draw these distinctions.
Posted 05/06/2008 02:37pm with
What?
Nyspotlight, I think you’ve got things, er, a little backwards. No clear thinker is “missing” what Mrs. Clinton is saying.
Mrs. Clinton is most certainly for a gas tax holiday, so that voters, especially those in primary states that haven’t voted for her yet, can get some “relief at the pump.” Of course, for a thousand reasons that we all know, a gas tax holiday such as the one she proposes will not happen. Let’s please concede, as painful as it may be for the clear thinkers among us, that some voters believe that she can carry out such a promise in the next several weeks.
Neither will oil companies pay for such a nonexistent tax holiday. This, too, will not happen for thousands of reasons. Let’s again concede that some voters, to put it plainly and in the words of a TV pundit, “don’t look that far into the future on this issue.”
Further, Mrs. Clinton is not technically “depriving” McCain of the issue. She’s capitalizing on this issue for all the short term gain that may accrue to her. Indeed, the issue will not exist by the time McCain may come round to “reclaiming” it.
Why is Clinton touting such a tax holiday? Many reasons. She sounds populist. She sounds caring. She has an “emotional” connection to voters, while Obama’s is “cerebral.” For her, it matters not whether such a tax cut is a reality. What matters is how much the issue allows her to contrast herself favorably with Obama, thereby winning a vote or two.
Posted 05/06/2008 07:13pm with
“But, of course, every issue needs to fit on a bumper sticker, so now the Obamapress is reporting that Clinton is “for” a gas tax holiday.”
Substitute “Obamapress” for “liberal media” and “gas tax holiday” for any perceived societal ill, real or imagined, and, well, I think I’ve heard this schtick before…
Hey, isn’t Rush on yet?