Let’s Talk Economic Sense With A Veteran of Reagan-Bush

Bruce Bartlett’s conservative credentials are pretty solid. He served in both the Reagan and Bush I administrations and worked for Ron Paul and Jack Kemp, too.

You might thus be surprised at some of the views Bartlett espouses during this interview with the Economist. But you shouldn’t be. We should take some of the things Bartlett says as some badly-needed historical perspective.

The entire thing is worth reading — it explains why stimulus should take priority over deficit reduction, why the welfare state is necessary for social stability, and why American Republicans “don’t have any credibility whatsoever” on fiscal issues (those are Bartlett’s words, not mine, although I agree with them).

My favorite part is this:

I would add that I do disagree with the Republican fixation on taxation. Federal taxes as a share of GDP are at their lowest level in two or more generations—14.9% versus a postwar average of 18.2%. There is not one iota of evidence that the economy is suffering from excessive taxation and no evidence that the sorts of tax cuts favoured by Republicans—mainly tax cuts for the wealthy—would do any good given the nature of the economy’s problems. Tax cuts don’t help those with no incomes because they are unemployed, businesses running at a loss, or investors with a large stock of capital losses. In my view, the Republican obsession with taxes is based on pure dogma, not analysis. [Emphasis added]

Good economic analysis has to rely on evidence, not dogma. It must take into account the particular facts of our current predicament.

All the facts say we need more recovery money in our communities more than we need to fret about deficits and over-taxation. I’m glad a growing number of people are noticing.