[Volokh] David Post: Left, Right, and Never the Twain . . .:

[notify at powerblogs.com]

Posted by David Post:
Left, Right, and Never the Twain . . .:
http://volokh.com/archives/archive_2009_01_04-2009_01_10.shtml#1231288592


   I have a particular fondness for instances illustrating the
   incommensurability of different reactions to political events,
   examples of how different people, aligned at different points of the
   political spectrum, see things so differently that debate or
   discussion is not likely to effect any changes of mind.

   Here's [1]Paul Krugman in yesterday's New York Times, complaining
   about the "political posturing" that has already begun regarding the
   scope and size of the Obama stimulus package:

     The biggest problem facing the Obama plan is likely to be the
     demand of many politicians for proof that the benefits of the
     proposed public spending justify its costs -- a burden of proof
     never imposed on proposals for tax cuts.

     This is a problem with which Keynes was familiar: giving money
     away, he pointed out, tends to be met with fewer objections than
     plans for public investment 'which, because they are not wholly
     wasteful, tend to be judged on strict 'business principles.'"

   Now, what's interesting about this is not just that it's absurd; it's
   that Krugman (who is, after all, a really smart guy) doesn't see that
   it's absurd. The difference between public spending and tax cuts is
   that the former takes peoples' money away from them for an ostensibly
   public purpose, while the latter returns money to people that they
   already earned. It's really not that hard to see that the one calls
   for a higher "burden of justification" than the other, and that that's
   not a "problem" that needs to be overcome.

References

   1. http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/05/opinion/05krugman.html?_r=1