My letter to the NY Times re: Exaggerated Monetary Consensus

Re: How Washington Learned to Embrace the Budget Deficit by Jim Tankersley

Dear Sirs:

In his May 17 article titled (print edition) “A Giant Deficit, Once Dreaded, Is Now Desired” Mr. Tankersley claims that “A legion of economists, Federal Reserve officials and even some of the most outspoken proponents of deficit reduction in recent years are now urging Congress and President Trump to continue spending trillions of dollars to prevent a long-term collapse in business activity and prolonged joblessness.”

Really? Just who are these economists? Turns out that Mr. Tankersley drags out the usual suspects–two Harvard economists and an economic advisor to socialist Bernie Sanders. He did find a couple very mild quotes by semi-sound money economists who otherwise are critics of deficits. They support the fallacious idea that government should spend during recessions. Left unsaid is that these same economists recommend running budget surpluses during the good times. Of course, the spend-until-you-drop economists are much loved by the political class, because they tell politicians exactly what is manna to their ears; i.e., you do not have to economize…just spend! On what? Lord Keynes, much loved by the political class, famously advised that people be paid to dig holes in the ground and then other people be paid to fill the holes back up. Yes, he really did say this!

Well, Mr. Tankersley, there is a “legion of economists” who know that budget deficits MUST BE PAID in some fashion. We the people are paying for it now with a diminution of the purchasing power of existing dollars. There is no other possible outcome to printing money out of thin air. Please, Mr. Tankersley, look beyond the Keynesian dogma and read Mises, Hayek, and Rothbard. Why there is even a real economist right there in Manhattan: Professor Joe Salerno of Pace University. Take him to lunch sometime and have the scales removed from your eyes. You will be a better man for it.

Patrick Barron