Please, Lord, rid us of these annoying pests (the neoconmen, that is). First we have Max "War Forevermore" Boot pretending to be an economist in the War Street Journal, explaining to us how taking half a trillion dollars out of the pockets of American taxpayers and wasting it in Iraq has no negative effect whatseover on the economy. If not, then I suppose invading all of the other Arab countries, along with North Korea and China -- the ultimate neocon pipe dream -- will also constitute a free lunch and cost us absulutely nothing.

Then this morning on CBS "Sunday Morning" neocon Ben Stein assures us that all is well since "The Fed is flooding the economy with liquidity," and "federal deficits are also good for the economy." Thanks to out-of-control spending and the Fed's inflation-mongering, said Stein, we'll all soon be "living like drunken sailors again."

But wait. Wasn't the real estate bubble caused by Greenspan's flooding the economy with liquidity? And wasn't Keynesian deficit spending discredited by the "stagflation" of the 1970s? Well, yes.

The last time I saw Ben Stein on TV pretending to be an economist he was picking stocks for a Faux News Channel business show. After recommending a dozen or so stocks someone asked him where HIS money was. His answer was: "I don't invest in individual stocks." Can you spell "shyster"?