Teh Rude Pundit: Republican Economists Say: "Please, Sir, May I Have Another?"
The Rude Pundit addresses Gary Becker, James Buchanan, Robert Lucas, Robert Mundell, Vernon Smith, Martin Feldstein, Anne Krueger, John Taylor, Michael Boskin, Glenn Hubbard, Paul MacAvoy, Burton Malkiel, Paul McCracken, William Poole, Harvey Rosen, Beryl Sprinkel, John Taylor, Murray Weidenbaum, Douglas Holtz-Eakin, June O'Neill, James Miller, and Tim Muris).
The Rude Pundit:
The Rude Pundit: In Brief: John McCain Hates/Hearts Economists: Okay, follow this. It's got a fun little pay off:
So John McCain proposes a gas tax holiday and economists almost universally say it's a stupid idea. In June, McCain, being a reasonable man, chooses to mock the economists: "If you want to call it a gimmick, fine. You know the economists? They’re the same ones that didn’t predict this housing crisis we’re now in." Ha-ha. Stupid economists. What do they know?
Now McCain has put forth a great and mighty economic plan. Did it yesterday, less than a month after dissing the poindexters. And his campaign has released a letter from, well, who else? Economists who support it. Oodles of them. Guess they know a lot about economics, eh?
Here's the final step: the Rude Pundit chose one of the names at relatively random. University of Chicago's Gary Becker, who does a blog on, you know, economics, with Richard Posner. And here's that promised pay off: back in December 2007, Becker says, "The vast majority of economists, including me, were surprised by the extent of the subprime mortgage crisis."
So, to conclude: for John McCain, economists who didn't predict the mortgage crisis don't know what they're talking about when it comes to a gas tax holiday, but when it comes to his entire economic plan, they're a-ok. What fun.
Does that qualify as straight talk?
