Wingnut's Law

Here is Jared Bernstein commenting on the fact that progressives didn't get the the deal they wanted in the disastrous debt-ceiling negotiations.  Dr. Bernstein opines that although Obama is not a great negotiator, the real problem is that voters don't understand what government does to help them.

Okay, where to start?  It's so much worse than progressives not getting the deal they wanted.  No one sensible thinks austerity is a good idea to begin with.  See here, here, here, and here.  It's a really bad idea.  In fact, it's the type of bad idea that leads to economic disaster, violence and repression.

So, if economic policy is not being driven by legitimate economic theory, what is driving it?

Here is my theory, I'm calling it Wingnut's Law:  Any time policy decisions are made contra sound science, there are billionaires or religious fundamentalists at work.  Since there is no one on CNN quoting the bible (only in America), it must be billionaires.  See here, here, here and here.  

This brings me to Dr. Bernstein's point:  Billionaires have engaged in a decades-long PR campaign to convince people that government is the problem.  I mean think about it, the government-is-the-problem slogan is the Swiss Army knife of the billionaire – it saves the day any time pesky regulation is in the way, it keeps corporate and capital gains taxes low and it provides the rationale for slashing the social safety net. Oh how billionaires must love the government-is-the-problem slogan. In fact, I wonder what billionaires love more – the government-is-the-problem slogan or a taxpayer-funded bailout (only suckers care about hypocrisy, silly).

So yes, I agree with Dr. Bernstein, we need to convince people government isn’t the enemy.  But we should be clear about the nature of that task.  The fact is extremely well-funded interests – Big Tobacco, Oil, Insurance, Wall Street and on and on and on – have told the American people for decades and in every forum imaginable that government is the problem.  We are fighting an idea that has been as aggressively and as consistently advertised as any idea in my lifetime.  That is what we are up against.