Skip Navigation

The Daily Dish - 2006-2011 archives for The Daily Dish, featuring Andrew Sullivan

A Conservative Of Doubt

By The Daily Dish
Oct 20 2009, 1:45 AM ET

Money Magazine interviews Bruce Bartlett:

So are Republicans fighting the last war? What good are tax cuts when people have no income to tax? In this crisis we've run into the same problem we had in the Great Depression: a liquidity trap. Money isn't circulating. The stimulus package may have been over-sold by Obama, but the principle was correct. We need government spending to get out of the trap.

Do you support the idea of another stimulus package? No. The lags in implementation are so great that it would have no effect until long after the recovery is under way. And I think the makings of a fairly rapid recovery are here.

Nice to hear some optimism. My Republican friends, to a person, think that Obama's policies are going to be disastrous and that they'll be able to waltz into the White House in 2012. I keep asking, "What if you're wrong? What's your backup plan in case the economy does recover and Obama gets credit for bringing us out of the biggest crisis since the Depression?"



Presented by

More at The Atlantic

The Myth of Energy Independence: Why We Can't Drill Our Way to Oil Autonomy Why We Can't Drill Our Way to Oil Autonomy
Blame, Responsibility, and How We Talk About Syria How We Talk About Syria
French Moms: We're Not as 'Superior' at Parenting as You Americans Think French Moms Aren't 'Superior'
Do Mothers Matter? Do Mothers Matter?
Sarah Palin Brings Out the Barbs at CPAC Sarah Palin Ends CPAC With Rousing Speech
Special Report
The Civil War National Portrait Gallery The Civil War
A 150th-anniversary commemorative issue, with Atlantic work by Mark Twain, Harriet Beecher Stowe, Frederick Douglass, and others. Read more ›

Just In

View All Correspondents

The Biggest Story in Photos

The Civil War, Part 3: The Stereographs

Feb 10, 2012

Subscribe Now

SAVE 59%! 10 issues JUST $2.45 PER COPY

Facebook

Newsletters

Sign up to receive our free newsletters

(sample)

(sample)

(sample)

(sample)