Weaponized Keynesianism and the Republicans

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Jun 24 2009, 3:30 pm by Derek Thompson

I tend to think I'm a decently fair observer of politics. But one thing I've never had patience for is Republicans who don the cloak of fiscal conservatism and then threaten to light themselves on fire when military spending increases by too little -- much less go down. Maybe that's why I really appreciate this rhetorical MOAB from the voluble Rep. Barney Frank on paying for the F-22:

These arguments will come from the very people who denied that the economic recovery plan created any jobs. We have a very odd economic philosophy in Washington: It's called weaponized Keynesianism. It is the view that the government does not create jobs when it funds the building of bridges or important research or retrains workers, but when it builds airplanes that are never going to be used in combat, that is of course economic salvation.

(ht Krugman)

Comments (2)

Concerned June 24, 2009 5:08 PM

Funny that the only thing that makes sense to make dramatic cuts in right now is military spending and yet even bringing up military cuts is seen as un-American. Maybe, just maybe if California really fails and we see the implications of it we will learn that the government cannot continue spending money we don't have indefinately.

Brock C. June 24, 2009 5:24 PM

For government or private entity, it's all about the ROI. But for government you had the added consideration of "We took this money from the private sector; is our ROI better than theirs would have been?"

I actually favor both bridges and F-22s, and for the same reason: promotion of trade. Bridges are useful within the country for trade of course, and F-22s are part of the military apparatus that (with the US as guarantor of Western security since the Japanese surrender (and now the whole world with the collapse of the USSR)), allow for global trade by means of peaceful sea lanes.

It's $10MM for cheese museums in Wisconsin that piss me off.