These ‘Economists Say’ Whatever Democrats Want Them To Say. Always wrong, never in doubt.

The Federalist ^ | 4 Aug, 2022 | DAVID HARSANYI

[MtnClimber]

'Top economists say Democrats’ health care and climate package will put ‘downward pressure on inflation,’” CNN informs us. And really, who are you, a mere mortal, to question the decrees of top economists?

This kind of appeal to authority was popularized during the Obama years, when the then-president would say nonsensical things like, “Every economist from the left and the right has said, because of the Recovery Act, what we’ve started to see is at least a couple of million jobs that have either been created or would have been lost.” (Irritated italics mine.)

Hundreds of economists, three of them Nobel laureates — James Buchanan, Edward Prescott, and Vernon Smith — disagreed with Obama’s assessment of the stimulus. They were largely ignored by the media, just as economists who now maintain that the “Inflation Reduction Act” will do nothing for inflation or, more likely, worsen the problem will be today.

Finding a gaggle of Democrats — economists, or not — to tell us we should “invest” more money into progressive agenda items isn’t difficult. Of course former Obama appointee Betsey Stevenson, who thinks inflation is “being used as an excuse to not want to do some of the spending that we need to do,” wants to pass another $760 billion in deficit spending. I mean, does anyone really believe that former Democratic Party officials such as Jack Lew or Robert Rubin sat down and crunched the numbers before signing off on the letter? Is there a single penny of spending by Democrats that Joseph Stiglitz, champion of “progressive economics,” wouldn’t support? One suspects that all these activists would gladly see high inflation if it meant combating the “climate crisis” or funding dependency programs.

Then there is “top economist” Mark Zandi of Moody’s Analytics, also a signee.

[MtnClimber]

Many on Wall Street are very liberal, though I don’t understand why.

[dfwgator]

Because Government and Business have merged together.

Hmmmmm, what is that called........Fash-something.

[BBQToadRibs2]

Trying to be persuasive with the DNC message, rather than be predictive with what the data says.

[chuckee]

And that eminence grise of all Dem economists, Paul Krugman, who has never been correct in his entire professional life about anything he has predicted and has never run across a book he would not cook to make an economic argument Dems want to promote. He is representative of the dishonest garbage that shills for the Dem oarty

[teeman8r]

wall street likes governments that spend money... lots of money...

[BobL]

“These ‘Economists Say’ Whatever Democrats Want Them To Say. Always wrong, never in doubt.”

...never apologize for being wrong
...never held accountable, even by conservatives (with rare exceptions)
...always listened to the next time

[Flick Lives]

Because Government and Business have merged together.

Hmmmmm, what is that called........Fash-something.

—

The free market in the U.S. died long ago. Strangled by the fascist mega-corporations who are able to steer legislation that helps them and destroys any competition. A perfect example is during the the absurd Covid lockdowns, “essential” stores like Walmart, Target, Home Depot, and Best Buy were all allowed to stay open, but little mom-and-pop stores were forced to shutter. It was the perfect opportunity to kill small businesses in the crib.

[lasereye]

Rick Newman, a lunatic highly partisan columnist at Yahoo Finance, continually quotes Zandi. During the 2016 Presidential race, he kept citing Zandi’s alleged 10 year economic projection under Clinton vs Trump’s policies. Of course it showed the economy doing better under Clinton’s policies.

[Steely Tom]

These ‘Economists Say’ Whatever Democrats Want Them To Say. Always wrong, never in doubt.

Just like the founders of feminism, and the leaders of the educational establishments, and the heads of the labor movement, and the civil rights movement, and the immigration movement.

Of course I'm paranoid, and a conspiracy theorist.

[unixfox]

One only needs to go grocery shopping and to the gas station to see what inflation is.

These “economists” live in a bubble.

[DoodleBob]

I worked for years in NYC. My colleagues' liberalism was divorced from business. Even decisions around the type of clients we'd book didn't hinge on conservative or liberal world views - optimizing shareholder value reigned supreme.

This "divorced" world/business view was most notable around pay - I never heard any lib volunteer that some of their pay or bonus should go to someone making less, or someone "less fortunate."

In other words, liberalism as a worldview was all great and fun until it DIRECTLY impacted THEM, especially when it came to THEIR money. In those cases, they were downright fans of Milton Friedman.

[SheepWhisperer]

Case in point from my neighborhood...
Years ago we had a leftist neighbor who screamed about the injustices in society and how taxes should go higher to pay for the less priveleged. My reply ended our communications; “Great idea!. Your first. You have that extra bedroom and the second car, so you leave the keys to the extra car and to your front door on the hood, with a sign in the yard saying FREE ROOM AND CAR TO USE”.

Until it’s YOUR ox being gored.

...that is all

[scottiemom]

You know I have been confusing the bookeeper type with economists. I guess I expected the straight talking honesty that bookeepers have was a similar quality of those who are economists. Who knew there was such a lack of character in those who present the “numbers” of our national finances? What an untrustworthy source of information most have become.