“The Economist” on Economics

Every American taxpayer needs to read the article below from The Economist. First, for those not familiar with the publication, let’s look them up on Wikipedia.

”The Economist is an English-language weekly news and international affairs publication owned by The Economist Newspaper Ltd. and edited in offices in the City of Westminster, London, England.”

”It takes an editorial stance which is supportive of free trade and globalisation, along with the expansion of government health and education spending, as well as other, more limited forms of governmental intervention. It targets highly educated readers and claims an audience containing many influential executives and policy-makers”

”The publication belongs to The Economist Group, half of which is owned by the Financial Times, a subsidiary of Pearson PLC. A group of independent shareholders, including many members of the staff and the Rothschild banking family of England.”

Okay, that lets you know it’s coming from outside the U.S. and it is written by people in the financial industry. Next, the subject of the article is Representative Paul Ryan, the Republican Chairman of the House Budget Committee. Congressman Ryan has recently made himself famous by proposing a budget that will destroy Medicare as we know it. That has all blown up in his face, but that’s another story. This story is about economics.

(You know I’m going to tell you to read the whole thing so you can skip the quotes if you just go ahead and click on the link.) From The Economist:

Paul Ryan's roadmap to recession

”I was struck hearing all this, explained in this way. Adopting these policies would be nothing short of disastrous.”

”In other words, if Republicans had their druthers, they'd be free to enact a potentially destabilising—according to Mr Ryan's view of the economic situation—set of reforms. Only Democratic reluctance is sparing the economy this horror.”

”Mr Ryan's views are at odds with economic history and at odds with prevailing views of economic policy. They're untethered from economic reality.”

If you think that sounds damning without any context, you should read it in context. It’s even worse. Read the whole thing.

Anybody got any doubts about where I found it?

Don Brown
May 5, 2011