Greg Mankiw has things to say to the President about how he can Break Bread with Republicans. He writes it in the form of an Open Letter, which is a very clever rhetorical device that is annoying.
DEAR President Obama:
Sorry to bother you. I know you are busy.
Fuck you. I mean Christ, how old are you? Why the cutesy bullshit? Can you at least pretend that this shit matters to actual people?
In a matter of days, Republicans will control the House of Representatives and have a larger voting bloc in the Senate. If economic policy is to make any progress over the next two years, you really will have to be bipartisan. To do so, you’ll need to get inside the heads of the opposition.
I am here to help.
Right.
The snarkish tone here fascinates. Why? Because of how it pinch-hits for, uh, sense.
Do you, Greg Mankiw, have sensible things to say about how to reduce unempoyment?
Or do you instead have smarmy bullshit to insinuate about how Your Team must be Allowed to Play because of how they are Serious?
LOOK AT ME! I AM GREG MANKIW! I AM SERIOUS! ADMIRE MY SNARK!
Hmmm.
FOCUS ON THE LONG RUN
Liberals, Mr. Schultze suggested, tend to worry most about short-run policy. And, indeed, starting with the stimulus package in early 2009, your economic policy has focused on the short-run problem of promoting recovery from the financial crisis and economic downturn.
But now it is time to pivot and address the long-term fiscal problem.
"Pivot" from what?
The hideous unemployment rate is the crisis.
Get people jobs; get reelected. Or else don't "pivot" and... what, make Greg Mankiw sad?
THINK AT THE MARGIN Republicans worry about the adverse incentive effects of high marginal tax rates.
"Republicans think rich people should not pay taxes. Please do not help anyone get a job." Also, this is stupid: "because many Americans lose some of the credit as they earn more, the credit reduces their incentive to work. In effect, it is an increase in their marginal tax rate."
Is the impulse to make money truly weaker than the impulse to not have to pay taxes? Apparently so.
STOP TRYING TO SPREAD THE WEALTH Ever since your famous exchange with Joe the Plumber
Oh for fuck's sake. What's new nowadays is the idea that raising taxes on anyone ever is Communism. This is insane: raising taxes is something that nations do every now and again in certain circumstances. And also depriving the vast majority of the nation of disposable income means, everyone's fucked!
And, Joe the Plumber? Kill you.
Many Republicans, however, reject this view of the state. From their perspective, it is not the proper role of government to fix the income distribution in an attempt to achieve some utopian vision of fairness. They believe, instead, that in a free society, people make money when they produce goods and services that others value, and that, as a result, what they earn is rightfully theirs.
Go work at Target.
SPREAD OPPORTUNITY INSTEAD Despite their rejection of spreading the wealth, Republicans recognize that times are hard for the less fortunate. Their solution is not to adjust the slices of the economic pie, as if they had been doled out by careless cutting, but to expand the pie by providing greater opportunity for all.
Fire teachers and spend less on schools.
DON’T MAKE THE OPPOSITION YOUR ENEMY Last month, when you struck your tax deal with Republican leaders, you said you were negotiating with “hostage takers.” In the future, please choose your metaphors more carefully.
Republicans are not terrorists. They are not the enemy. Like you, they love their country, and they want what is best for the American people. They just have a different judgment about what that is.
Let me propose a New Year’s resolution for you: Have a beer with a Republican at least once a week. The two of you won’t necessarily agree, but you might end up with a bit more respect for each other’s differences.
Fuck you.
"Be nicer to Republicans because they are so nice."
Right.
Maybe the "rich people having beers together" thing has its long term drawbacks, though, in terms of a sustainable "long term" plan.
Or not.
As Mankiw's piece demonstrates, "conservatives" cannot correctly describe the reasons why this economy sucks. Neither can they grasp basic science. And they are also opposed to simple civil rights principles.
There is no reason to believe a nation dominated by people this crazy can thrive, much less survive.