A Cowen Connivance On “The Great Middle”

(And I also posted here.)

I guess N. Gregory Mankiw was unavailable for the Sunday New York Times this weekend to condescend once more to those of us struggling to hang onto our jobs and our health care, so Tyler Cowen put on the “right-wing wanker” hat to hold court in the Business section (of course).

From here, we learn the following…

When it comes to the big issues, voters at the midpoint usually get the policies, if not always the exact outcomes, they want. In the federal budget, the largest line items include Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid and military spending — all very popular programs. The interest on the national debt is mounting because we don’t like paying higher taxes now for all those benefits, so our government borrows to postpone the pain.

That is indeed what has been happening, of course, but TPM found an item here that I thought was noteworthy…

A new Rasmussen poll supplies a very interesting data point in the ongoing debate about the budget deficit: As it turns out, Republican voters would prefer having a deficit if it meant they can get more tax cuts, instead of raising taxes in order to balance the budget.

The national poll of likely voters asked: "Would you rather see a balanced budget with higher taxes or a budget deficit with tax cuts?" A 41% plurality would rather have budget deficit with tax cuts, with 36% calling for higher taxes and a balanced budget. The internals of the poll show Republicans favoring deficits and tax cuts.

"The partisan differences on the questions are notable," says the pollster's analysis. "While 50% of Republicans would rather see a budget deficit with tax cuts, a plurality (46%) of Democrats favor the opposite approach - a balanced budget with higher taxes. Voters not affiliated with either party are evenly divided on the question."

So basically, Republicans want to continue having their cake and eating it too, Democrats want to “pay the piper” and be done with it, and those glorious independent voters are still watching the Super Bowl ads, I guess.

Continuing with Cowen…

Correctly or not, most Americans have failed to embrace the Democratic health care plans. And ever since the Republicans won the special Senate election in Massachusetts, even the Democrats in Congress have stalled on the legislation. It now appears that much of the initial support was thin.

Wrong – support has been strong for health care reform all along (particularly the public option, as noted here), but it has only dissipated as this country has watched the opportunity for landmark change for the better squandered by corporatist greed head Republicans and utterly spineless Democrats.

But wait – it gets better…

Many people are increasingly worried about deficits. That may have led Mr. Obama to announce a freeze on nonmilitary discretionary spending, and yet this freeze refuses to target major, popular budget items like Social Security. The public seems to want the self-image of being tough on spending without giving up the goodies. President Obama may well know better, but he is doing his best to oblige, if only to prevent a Republican landslide this November.

Short of the right-wing propagandistic wet dreams of the Bucks County Courier Times Op-Ed page, where all manner of charges without attribution against Democrats reign supreme, I don’t see anyone claiming “a Republican landslide” in November (assuming you can believe RNC chair Michael Steele, who, as noted here, has had difficulty making up his mind on the subject).

And as noted here, the Republican Party nationally polls lower than the Democrats or President Obama. The problem, though, is that, on the sample congressional ballot, the Republicans and Democrats are statistically tied.

(Also, it should be noted that Cowen tells us that the Supremes ruled in the Citizens United fiasco that corporate campaign contributions cannot be banned. That is incorrect – the issue was limiting contributions, not banning them.)

I do agree with Cowen on one point, though; he tells us that most people aren’t very well informed about politics and can be downright irrational or stubborn. And badly written editorial commentary that really doesn’t even belong in the business section of a newspaper will not help that one bit.