Loading ...JUST IN: Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent gives his defense tonight of the Congressional spending bill – “I’m a fiscal hawk, but I’m also a realist.”
“The way to think about this is every $300 billion is 1% of GDP…we have to bring this down gradually because we want to do two things. We want to cut and constrain spending, and we want to grow the economy.”
“What Senator Paul is asking for could cause a sudden stop in the economy. So I’m a deficit hawk, but I’m also a realist.”
“What’s important here is our debt-to-GDP. If we don’t grow, then we won’t grow the tax base and we’re not going to grow revenues. We’re not going to grow the economy.”
“We inherited a mess and we have to constrain spending, cut spending, and then grow our way out of this.”
https://x.com/EricLDaugh/status/1930054945165680657
Elon Musk is a Rocket Scientist NOT an Economist
While he is correct about being a realist and therefore the need to deal with the situation at hand rather than what we would ideally like, his comment about Musk is telling. It is because of economists(and politicians) that we are in this situation. I will take rocket scientists over economists everytime. The former solve problems and get things accomplished, while the later create the problems and offer no actual solutions.
That was my comment re Elon…but your point is well taken
Back in the 30s, the world was in Depression, thanks first to Congress and Wilson and Aldrich (ie for creating Fed), and then later Churchill for steering the NY Fed and BOE down a bad trail in 1925.
Then, thanks to FDR, there seemed to be no escaping it.
Along came Keynes telling politicians to put unborn generations in debt, and they loved it.
Economists supply the mental tools, but politicians choose which ones to use.
And the “bought and paid for” media helps keep intellectual debate squarely at bay.
Solutions require political power. Milei is the first economist EVER to have that.
Bessent is another one of those “bests intentions” guys. His best intentions will kill us all.
The waste and fraud in government is beyond comprehension. Elon and his team nailed it it broad daylight. To NOT cut spending by at least $250 billion is criminal and worthy of the noose. These people need to burn.
And Trump is a fucking liar.