(Cross-posted at Americans for Prosperity…)
Patrick Ruffini has some very astute observations over at The Next Right re: how fiscal conservatives on Capitol Hill should handle the rapidly approaching economic stimulus debate on Capitol Hill. Here’s the most relevant blurb, but read the whole thing:
Republicans begin to tap into Americans’ common sense belief in belt-tightening as the appropriate response to lean economic times. Families have had to make sacrifices — it’s time for government to do the same and not saddle our kids with a trillion more in debt on top of bailout after bailout after bailout. Or, taking on more debt than we could afford is what got us into this mess. Now they’re saying that taking on more will get us out? Give me a break.
We then introduce a $250 billion package of targeted tax cuts and small business incentives. We cite as a rationale for the figure Obama’s own economist, Christina Romer, who has found a 3x multiplier effect from tax reduction, while other mainstream economists who say the multiplier from a spending increase is about 1x. We argue that this package would have the same impact as the inefficient and wasteful Obama stimulus.
Building on Ruffini’s analysis, I think there’s a real danger that while Hill conservatives may rally around tax relief as a generally better stimulus plan than unnecessary make-work infrastructure projects, they’re likely to propose a stimulus plan that still includes hundreds of billions of taxpayer dollars for many of those same unnecessary make-work infrastructure projects.
What conservatives on Capitol Hill need to realize – and soon – is that it’s impossible to win the “Me-Too-But-Less” game. As in, yes, I want to stimulate the economy and create jobs through infrastructure spending, but less than the liberals do.
To win this debate, conservatives need to draw a bright line in the sand: the way to best stimulate the economy is through tax relief – not paying one guy to dig a hole and another guy to fill it back in. Period.
Otherwise, anything they say will amount to, “That guy wants to waste $800 billion of your tax dollars on a scheme that will do nothing to stimulate the economy, while I only want to waste $200 billion of your tax dollars! Aren’t I great?!”
Sadly, based on conversations I’ve had with people on the Hill, I’m afraid that’s where we’re headed. And that’s exactly the kind of “Me-Too-But-Less” mentality that kept conservatives largely irrelevant on Capitol Hill for four decades.
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[...] as we’ve pointed out before, it’s the smart thing to do politically, since supporting a “Me-Too-But-Less” spending stimulus would prevent conservatives from criticizing their opponents when this non-stimulus bill inevitably [...]
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