BDBoop
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Unfortunately, it is not the anti-imperialist strain of Pauls thinking that his competitors have adopted. Instead, Pauls bizarre opposition to the Federal Reserve has caught on. Paul actually believes in sound money such as a gold standard rather than letting the Fed manage the money supply. He went on about it ad nauseam during Republican administrations as well. But Rick Perrywho called Fed Chairman Ben Bernankes easing the money supply almost treasonousMichele Bachmann and Rick Santorum have discovered their commitment to sound money only since President Obama took office. All the candidates who spoke about the Fed said they wanted to eliminate its mandate to combat unemployment, so as to focus only on inflation. Thats a curious concern when unemployment is high and inflation is low, but it takes away from the federal government a major tool for turning around a weak economy. When theres a Democrat in office, Republicans consider that a feature, not a bug, in the proposal. Republicans would worsen future recessions not only by handcuffing the Fed but by handcuffing the elected branches of the federal government as well. The Balanced Budget Amendment that they all support and Rommey talked up in the debate would cap government spending as a proportion of gross domestic product. That means when the economy shrinks and government spending automatically increases as a share of GDP because the denominator is smaller, the government would have to cut spending. No economist would approve, but Herbert Hoover must be smiling in his grave.
Health insurance is another example of Republicans magical thinking. They all hate Obamacare and promise to repeal it. But what would they do instead about 45 million uninsured Americans and rising healthcare costs? Nothing, except for warmed-over ideas like tort reform from Herman Cain and health savings accounts from Mitt Romney. Bachmann, as is her wont, ignored a question of how to treat the uninsured with her repeated talking points about how evil Obamacare is and how no one can match the intensity of her opposition to it. The most honest answer, as usual, came from Paul, who implied that he would let the uninsured die, saying they would take responsibility for their choice not to buy insurance. Thats what freedom is all about, says Paul. The freedom to die, that is. Instead of admitting that his policy would condemn to death the uninsured, he claimed that churches would pick up the slack. And, if they dont, then surely the tooth fairy will.
Magical Thinking Dominates Tea Party GOP Debate | The Nation
Strange folks around here bitch because I share articles. Apparently, I was supposed to write the article myself? Dunno. I think everybody posts articles they agree with.
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