"He is a politician, not an economist"

Gratuitous cute kitty pic of golden girl Tiny out in the yard this afternoon staring at things we don't see.

"He makes everything so clear and commonsensical," we emailed Goomp this morning re Thomas Sowell's latest dissection of candidate Obama's Economics 101 deficit:

Since Obama can do no wrong in the eyes of many of his supporters, they resented [anchorman Charles] Gibson's having asked him … why [he] was advocating a higher capital gains tax rate, when experience had shown that the government typically collected more revenue from a lower capital gains tax rate than from a higher rate.

Senator Obama acted as if he had never thought about it that way. He probably hadn't. He is a politician, not an economist.

Politically, what matters to the left-wing base that Obama has been playing to for decades is sticking it to "the rich." What effect that has on the tax revenues received by the government is secondary, at best.

Inside looking out, Babe the Magnificent catches our camera's eye, the kitchen window screen creating an effect not unlike Photoshop's "Crosshatch" filter.

And voters are only too happy to oblige, preferring — in Dr. Sanity's words referencing a Sowell column last May on why voters don't listen to economists — "quick fixes and someone to blame, not solutions." As we wrote during the heat of the primary season last winter, referencing yet another Sowell column, "Unfortunately for the future of the Republic should McCain or either of the front-running Democrats — who all of them seem to believe a President can and should 'manage' the economy rather than step back and let the invisible hand create wealth — should one of them become Leader of the Free World, we'll have an Economics 101 gap in the Oval Office, and THAT worries us and Thomas Sowell, whose Basic Economics: A Citizens Guide to the Economy ought to be at the top of the Arizona senator's [not to mention Obama's] must-read list." Sowell:

One of the biggest problems with government intervention in the economy is that politicians usually have neither the knowledge nor the incentives to intervene at the right time.

Bruce Bartlett has pointed out that most government intervention in an economic downturn comes too late. That is, the problem it is trying to solve has already worked itself out, and the government intervention can create new problems.

More fundamentally, markets readjust themselves for a reason. That reason is that people pay a price for their misjudgments and mistakes. Government interventions are usually based on trying to stop them from having to pay that price. People who went way out on a limb to buy a house that they could not afford are now being pictured as victims of a heartless market or deceptive lenders.

Rewarding bad behavior only encourages more bad behavior. But who has time to worry about bad behavior when there are voters to pander to?

Update: Rewarding insanity only encourages more insanity. But who has time to worry about insanity when there are readers to entertain at Dr. Sanity's Carnival of the Insanities?

Comments

[goomp]

What is it that makes humans such victims of envy and the need to place their failures on the shoulders of those who are making the economy stronger?

[mog]

Your cats look gorgeous as always, awesome pics. :)

[Teresa]

Oh wow - love Baby in the window. That's a terrific pic. :-)

Of course we are all into easy fast solutions. Get it solved in 30 minutes or it's not good enough. OTOH - some of that "get it done now and make me happy" has gone quite a way in fueling a pretty nice lifestyle for us. So, it has its good and bad points.

I do love Sowell he is wonderful. As a nation, our kids would fare much better in the world if his books were required reading. But as they don't fit the communist criteria for what to teach in schools - it will never happen. However, having put children through that system, they did turn out okay and seem to now understand (since they have to pay taxes) that sometimes you have to work and wait for stuff and the government handing it to you isn't the best way to go about things.