Ryan Lizza, Dean Baker, and the "Worst Fears" of Advocates of More Expansionary Fiscal Policy
Dean Baker complains about Ryan Lizza:
Finally, we are told in conclusion that: "So far, none of the worst fears of those who believed that the stimulus was too small or that nationalization was the only option or that taking over car companies would destroy the fabric of capitalism have materialized." Sorry, but this is wrong, big time. The worst fears of some of us who said that the stimulus was too small were that we would be sitting around with 10 percent unemployment for a long period of time and that stimulus would be discredited. That pretty well describes the world we live in, even that may not be the case in New Yorker land...
Now, now, Dean. Expansionary. is not discredited--in large part because we have been loudly yelling for nine months now that it looked too small to do the job properly.
And Ryan Lizza is careful: he does not say "none of the fears of those who believed that the stimulus was too small have materialized"; he says "none of the worst fears of those who believed that the stimulus was too small... have materialized." Our worst fears were that right now the unemployment rate would be screaming upwards toward fifteen percent. And it hasn't even breached twelve yet.
