[Vision2020] Big Fiscal Phonies

[Art Deco]

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May 27, 2012
Big Fiscal Phonies By PAUL KRUGMAN

Quick quiz: What’s a good five-letter description of Chris Christie, the
Republican governor of New Jersey, that ends in “y”?

The obvious choice is, of course, “bully.” But as a recent debate over the
state’s budget reveals, “phony” is an equally valid answer. And as Mr.
Christie goes, so goes his party.

Until now the attack of the fiscal phonies has been mainly a national
rather than a state issue, with Paul Ryan, the chairman of the House Budget
Committee, as the prime example. As regular readers of this column know,
Mr. Ryan has somehow acquired a reputation as a stern fiscal hawk despite
offering budget proposals that, far from being focused on deficit
reduction, are mainly about cutting taxes for the rich while slashing aid
to the poor and unlucky. In fact, once you strip out Mr. Ryan’s “magic
asterisks” — claims that he will somehow increase revenues and cut spending
in ways that he refuses to specify — what you’re left with are plans that
would increase, not reduce, federal debt.

The same can be said of Mitt Romney, who claims that he will balance the
budget but whose actual proposals consist mainly of huge tax cuts (for
corporations and the wealthy, of course) plus a promise not to cut defense
spending.

Both Mr. Ryan and Mr. Romney, then, are fake deficit hawks. And the
evidence for their fakery isn’t just their bad arithmetic; it’s the fact
that for all their alleged deep concern over budget gaps, that concern
isn’t sufficient to induce them to give up anything — anything at all —
that they and their financial backers want. They’re willing to snatch food
from the mouths of babes (literally, via cuts in crucial nutritional aid
programs), but that’s a positive from their point of view — the social
safety net, says Mr. Ryan, should not become “a hammock that lulls
able-bodied people to lives of dependency and complacency.” Maintaining low
taxes on profits and capital gains, and indeed cutting those taxes further,
are, however, sacrosanct.

Still, Mr. Ryan and Mr. Romney are playing to a national audience. Are
Republican governors, who have to deal with real budget constraints,
different? Well, there have been many claims to that effect; Mr. Christie,
in particular, has been widely held up, not least by himself, as an example
of a politician willing to make tough choices.

But last week we got to see him facing an actual tough choice — and aside
from the yelling-at-people thing, he proved himself just another standard
fiscal phony.

Here’s the story: For some time now Mr. Christie has been touting what he
calls the “Jersey comeback.” Even before his latest outburst, it was hard
to see what he was talking about: yes, there have been some job gains in
the McMansion State since Mr. Christie took office, but they have lagged
gains both in the nation as a whole and in New York and Connecticut, the
obvious points of comparison.

Yet Mr. Christie has been adamant that New Jersey is on the way back, and
that this makes room for, you guessed it, tax cuts that would
disproportionately benefit the wealthy.

Last week reality hit: David Rosen, the state’s independent, nonpartisan
budget analyst, told legislators that the state faces a $1.3 billion
shortfall. How did the governor respond?

First, by attacking the messenger. According to Mr. Christie, Mr. Rosen — a
veteran public servant whose office usually makes more accurate budget
forecasts than the state’s governor — is “the Dr. Kevorkian of the
numbers.” Civility!

By the way, even Mr. Christie’s own officials are predicting a major budget
shortfall, just not quite as big. And the two big credit-rating agencies,
Moody’s and Standard & Poor’s, have recently issued warnings about New
Jersey’s budget situation, which S.& P. called “structurally unbalanced”
because of the governor’s optimistic revenue assumptions.

New Jersey, then, is still in dire fiscal shape. So is our tough-talking
governor willing to reconsider his pet tax cut? Fuhgeddaboudit. Instead, he
wants to fill the hole with one-shot budget gimmicks, including reneging on
a promise to reduce borrowing for transportation investment and diverting
funds from clean-energy programs. So much for fiscal responsibility.

Will Mr. Christie’s budget temper tantrum end speculation that he might
become Mr. Romney’s running mate? I have no idea. But it really doesn’t
matter: whoever Mr. Romney picks, he or she will cheerfully go along with
the budget-busting, reverse Robin Hood policies that you know are coming if
the former governor wins.

For the modern American right doesn’t care about deficits, and never did.
All that talk about debt was just an excuse for attacking Medicare,
Medicaid, Social Security and food stamps. And as for Mr. Christie, well,
he’s just another fiscal phony, distinguished only by his fondness for
invective.


-- 
Art Deco (Wayne A. Fox)
art.deco.studios at gmail.com
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