E tu, Brutus

Cactus at Angry Bear attempts to counteract Conservative efforts to justify the Bush Tax Cuts with statistics, but fails to some degree; like always in any such discussion, inclusion of too many numbers blocks the overall view, too few, and it opens the door for contention. Proper evaluation might be better with the addition of statistical float lines for GDP and Government Spending for the Periods involved.

Greg Mankiw tries to guess where the Democrats will go, with some good links. He, like most Conservatives, place too much emphasis on the ‘deadweight’ drag of the tax system. Economists, those of Free Market persuasion particularly, refuse to add in the increased Profitability assumed by the economy of infrastructure provision. A simple Accounting Cost of $.01/per ton mile of freight on publicly-provided highways would make that ‘deadweight’ go spoof. They also fail to state infrastructure Costs are the second Biggie in Governmental budgets along with military spending. Social welfare programs and R&D subsidies come in Third and Fourth.

Mike Sedlock (Mish) provides a good Post analyzing the current trend of the American economy. He notes that the PPI is down two months in a row, the first back-to-back decline since July 2004; not extraordinary, except in combination with other economic indications, it portends future economic strife. Pray for a good Christmas Season. George W. Bush could have another First to his credit–namely having two Recessions within his Presidency.

Felix Salmon reviews the Social Security debate, thinking it to be a "Tempest in a Tea Cup" as do I. He outlines the simplicity of Solutions to any Gap in funding, other than the herculean task of efficient Privatization; others, before and since, have reveals the lack of gain to be expected from dependence on the Financial markets to attain the desired Solvency. It was a good, straightforward Post, and should be put in a book somewhere. lgl