An act of Economic Sabotage

Over at The Washington Monthly, there’s a new hypothesis in town. Steven Benen thinks the Republican Party is working hard to ensure that joblessness remains high and that the economy doesn’t recover.  It is because this would be their certain path back to power.    Evidently there are other liberal/progressive columnists that are floating around the hypothesis so I think it’s worth examining and discussing.

Is there a Republican plot to tank the economy or are they just stuck in VooDoo economics fantasy land?  Is this possibly a new meme for Democratic partisans that’s come from some Journolist replacement?

Benen points first to several other sources, so let’s begin there.  Stan Collender writes at a blog called capital gains and games. Collender mention the idea was while writing on the seemingly endless attacks on the Federal Reserve by the GOP.  The GOP is notoriously filled with gold bugs and with folks that scream communism at any thing they think looks like big government overreach. (Say, fluoridating the water or giving children polio shots, or initiating an income tax to pay for war.) They go through cycles of screaming about the Fed ever so often.  However, this set of attacks is gaining some footing with the populace for some reason.  This is a quote from something Collender wrote last August.

It’s not at all clear, however, whether Bernanke realizes that the same political pressure that has brought fiscal policy to a standstill in Washington is very likely to be applied to the Fed if it decides to move forward. With Republican policymakers seeing economic hardship as the path to election glory this November, there is every reason to expect that the GOP will be equally as opposed to any actions taken by the Federal Reserve that would make the economy better, and that Republicans will openly and virulently criticize the Fed for even thinking about it. The criticism is likely to come both before any action is taken to try to stop it from happening and afterwards to make the Fed think twice about doing more.

Matt Yglesias echoed a similar sentiment which is where Benen comes up with the hypothesis.  They appear to have a mutual admiration society.  He says that every one knows that the path to re-election for President Obama is improvement on the economic front.  Mitch McConnell has made it very clear his goal is to see that Obama is a one term president. Therefore, is it possible that the Republicans are prepared to sabotage anything that improves the economy that might improve Obama’s chance at re-election?

Which is just to say that specifically the White House needs to be prepared not just for rough political tactics from the opposition (what else is new?) but for a true worst case scenario of deliberate economic sabotage.

The next cite is from Paul Krugman who echos a similar theme in his op-ed ‘The Axis of Depression’ in last week’s NYT.

What do the government of China, the government of Germany and the Republican Party have in common? They’re all trying to bully the Federal Reserve into calling off its efforts to create jobs.

Indeed, we’re seeing all kinds of weird things coming from Republicans these days including that infamous WSJ letter where they all are in a panic about inflation.  This teeth-gnashing occurs despite that October’s core consumer price index rose by a meager .6% .  That is the lowest it has risen since records have been taken;  starting in 1957.  Then, we have that ridiculous little cartoon that ramps up the same kind of fallacy-based nonsense with those two cute little bears using some strange form of English.   In all my years of teaching economics, I have never seen so much misinformation get spread around by so many.  We’ve got plenty of data now that completely debunks the anti-Keynsians, the Austrians, and the Reagan worshipers.  The facts recruited infamous supply sider Bruce Bartlett to the truth. What more proof do they need?

So, what is Benen implying, no make that stating?  He’s saying that the data, the proof, and the fact that people are suffering from joblessness has nothing to do with the agenda here.  The agenda is that the folks that want to deregulate us into Somalia status simply want to regain their power.

One of the interesting things Benen does is actually give some thought to  the idea that the Republicans are just misguided ideologues.  He gives the thought a test drive by looking at a column by Jon Chait in the TNR called “It’s Not a Lie if You Believe It” that ascribes less motive and more ignorance.  Benen dismisses it.

That seems largely fair. Under this line of thought, Republicans have simply lied to themselves, convincing one another that worthwhile ideas should be rejected because they’re not actually worthwhile anymore.

But Jon’s benefit-of-the-doubt approach would be more persuasive if (a) the same Republicans weren’t rejecting ideas they used to support; and (b) GOP leaders weren’t boasting publicly about prioritizing Obama’s destruction above all else, including the health of the country.

Indeed, we can even go a little further with this and note that apparent sabotage isn’t limited to economic policy. Why would Republican senators, without reason or explanation, oppose a nuclear arms treaty that advances U.S. national security interests? When the treaty enjoys support from the GOP elder statesmen and the Pentagon, and is only opposed by Iran, North Korea, and Senate Republicans, it leads to questions about the party’s intentions that give one pause.

So, that seems a little paranoid.  It also  seems like there would be some conversations some place outside of left blogosphere that would shun a group of office holders that show such naked hatred of their own country and the people they represent; even if the naked hatred extends mostly to those that don’t vote for them.  Benen says that the that assumes a vigilant press.  I think we can all agree these days that what we do not have is a vigilant and intellectually vigorous set of journalists.

Historically, lawmakers from both parties have resisted any kind of temptations along these lines for one simple reason: they didn’t think they’d get away with it. If members of Congress set out to undermine the strength of the country, deliberately, just to weaken an elected president, they risked a brutal backlash — the media would excoriate them, and the punishment from voters would be severe.

But I get the sense Republicans no longer have any such fears. The media tends to avoid holding congressional parties accountable, and voters aren’t really paying attention anyway. The Boehner/McConnell GOP appears willing to gamble: if they can hold the country back, voters will just blame the president in the end. And that’s quite possibly a safe assumption.

If that’s the case, though, then it’s time for a very public, albeit uncomfortable, conversation. If a major, powerful political party is making a conscious decision about sabotage, the political world should probably take the time to consider whether this is acceptable, whether it meets the bare minimum standards for patriotism, and whether it’s a healthy development in our system of government.

This gets me to another interesting thing that popped up in my mail this week.  It’s an announcement for one of those debate topics that you get if you’re a subscriber to The Economist. The motion this week is “This house believes that America’s political system is broken.” Right now, 76% of the folks voting agree with the motion. Interestingly enough, Matthew Yglesias is the one defending it.

So,  I’m not willing to draw any conclusion at this point, but I am willing to entertain the idea that the Republicans are willing to sabotage the President no matter what he chooses to do.  I am not willing to see it as a take down of the nation’s first ‘black president’.  I am willing to see it as a continuation of the job they wished they’d done on Bill Clinton. The hate all ‘liberals’. Plus, Republicans have felt entitled to power for as long as I can remember.  I do know–from experience–that they will do and say anything to get their agenda through.  Does this now include leaving incredibly large numbers of their own citizens suffering in poverty and without a job to do so?

My guess is that any means justifies any ends if you think some universal power broker is on your side.   Just read about the C Street group if you think that’s an outrageous hypothesis.  Then, tell me what you think.