Monday, May 9, 2011

Krugman: The Unwisdom of Elites - NYTimes.com

Paul Krugman on 
The Unwisdom of Elites - NYTimes.com: "What happened to the budget surplus the federal government had in 2000?


The answer is, three main things. First, there were the Bush tax cuts, which added roughly $2 trillion to the national debt over the last decade. Second, there were the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, which added an additional $1.1 trillion or so. And third was the Great Recession, which led both to a collapse in revenue and to a sharp rise in spending on unemployment insurance and other safety-net programs.


So who was responsible for these budget busters? It wasn’t the man in the street."
 

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