Re: [RC] Richard A. Posner: Toward Refocusing on Economic Growth

Tue, 09 Feb 2010 19:32:02 -0800

Title: "Suppose you were an idiot; and suppose you were a member of Congress
1) Fine, but you won't fix the immigration problem without addressing the Southern Border.

2) Said this myself for a long time.

3) We are not going to get this with this Congress and this Administration. This is commonly called "Tort Reform," and it is radioactive to the Democratic Party.

4) I'm sorry, but I've yet to see this. Or is this the money with strings attached that Texas declined?

5) Fine, just be careful how you define "mental illness." Political leanings should not be the diagnostic criteria.

6) If even the folks who write the tax laws (Charlie Rangel, I'm looking at you) can't get it right, what chance do non-lawyers and non-accountants have?

David

"Suppose you were an idiot; and suppose you were a member of Congress...ah, but I repeat myself."—Mark Twain

 


On 2/8/2010 12:19 PM, Dr. Ernie Prabhakar wrote:

Makes as much  or more sense as anything I'd seen. If Obama had centered his State of the Union on something like this, he might be making more headway now (though facing as much  or more opposition).


-- Ernie P.

http://correspondents.theatlantic.com/richard_posner/2010/02/is_paul_krugman_wasting_his_breath.php

I conclude that there probably is only one way out of our fiscal dilemma, apart from default, devaluation, or runaway inflation, and that is to increase the rate of economic growth to the point at which a growing public debt falls, or at least does not increase further, in percentage of GDP. But measures to increase economic growth must satisfy four criteria: that they not interfere with the economic recovery; that they not put the government in the futile position of trying to pick tomorrow's industry winners and investing in them ("industrial policy"); that they not cost too much, as that will contribute to the deficit, because the costs are likely to be incurred before the benefits are obtained; that they be politically feasible.

With these constraints in mind, I suggest the following candidates for stimulating the growth of the economy.

1. Remove all limits on the immigration of highly skilled workers, or persons of wealth. (This should be done gradually, so as not to increase unemployment while the unemployment rate remains very high.)

2. Decriminalize most drug offenses in order to reduce the prison population, perhaps by as much as a half, which will both economize on government expenditures and increase the number of workers. (Again and for the same reason, phase in gradually.)

3. Curtail medical malpractice liability, which increases medical costs gratuitously (because the courts are very poor at identifying actual malpractice) and, more important, engenders a great deal of very costly, and largely worthless, "defensive medicine."

4. Augment the admirable efforts being made by the Obama administration to improve public education.

5. Increase investment in the treatment of mental illness, which disables people during their productive years.

6. Simplify the federal tax code.

This list is merely suggestive, and could surely be improved. It is meant to suggest a more productive alternative to the current efforts at comprehensive health care reform, unpromising job subsidy and mortgage relief programs, and ambitious financial regulatory reform--all measures that are likely to slow the recovery by making the economic environment more uncertain and our fiscal problems more acute.


 

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