If one asks a Republican politician to explain the slow recovery in the US you will hear a common refrain from the echo chamber. They blame government regulation and high taxes for the slow recovery. Bruce Bartlett, who worked under Reagan and Bush, provides some data that fail to support the GOP mantra.
In fact, I can't remember ever hearing business people say good things about government regulation and tax policy. They have a built in bias against regulation and taxes. The data shows that these issue have been on their hate list for many years. What is different today is the huge swing in poor demand as the principle concern within the business community. They aren't stupid, and its not rocket science to be concerned about demand in a period of high unemployment. It also doesn't take a lot of research to be concerned about the problems in Europe, and in the global banking system that may affect demand for a long time. Business has more to be worried about than regulation and tax policy.
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