Keynes lives

at National Review. Wittiness this claim by NR columnist Thomas Nugent in an attack on the economics of Howard Dean:

“President George W. Bush’s tax cuts and spending increases have led to economic growth…” So, according to NR, it is good when the government runs up large deficits because that, not the actions of entrepreneurs, investors, and workers, is how we get economic growth.

Nugent also assaults the idea of “PAYGO” budgeting, where every tax cut or new spending proposal has to be counterbalanced with a tax increase or spending cut. Now it is true that the left loves PAYGO because they see it as a way to block tax cuts, but shouldn’t the right support the idea that new spending should be balanced with cuts in old spending, or support combining tax cuts with reductions in spending?

To be fair, Nugent does make some good points about Dean’s crackpot economics. I was particularly pleased to see him attack the argument that tax cuts are bad because they “cost” the government money.