The Political Report of the President

Arnold Kling

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Today the Economic Report of the President was released. As I remember the report in past years, the introductory chapter was typically political, while the rest of the report is focused purely on economics. These chapters often have been very educational, the sort of thing that you recommend to students.

Not any more. The chapter on "restoring fiscal sustainability" is pretty much devoid of serious economics. It is all about blaming everything on George Bush. Even if that is completely justified, the chapter ought to spell out options for attaining long-term fiscal sustainability. It doesn't.

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CATEGORIES: Politics and Economics

COMMENTS (3 to date)

Latest Comment

EastEasy writes:

I'm curious and doubtful whether Mr Kling even read previous reports for comparison before writing this, in particular taking the time to read a report that might be comparable (in order to calibrate his observation). Because I just went through the 2002 report from Bush and it's all blame blame blame on the incoming economy (from 2000) and 9/11.

I call foul and bias.

Posted February 17, 2012 10:58 PM

Elvin writes:

I stopped reading the ERP about twenty years ago.

Posted February 18, 2012 1:37 AM

Boston12GS writes:

Re: EastEasy--

Ah, 2002, when unemployment was in the 4.5% to 5.5% range (compared to 9% to 11% for same period into Obama's term, and still ~8.5% today using fudged figures favorable to Obama), and the Federal deficit was in the low hundreds of billions (compared to the Obama deficits in excess of $1.3 TRILLION).

Good times, good times. :-)

Posted February 20, 2012 11:05 AM

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