So what will happen in NH tomorrow? I have no idea. We must dispel with this notion that anyone has the slightest idea what they are doing. However, there seems to be a real possibility for one thing that seemed unlikely before the RubiOS bug manifested itself: that John Kasich will come in second on the Republican side.
If he does, there will be an outpouring of praise from self-proclaimed centrists, who will declare Kasich the sensible, responsible Republican of their dreams. So let me attempt what will surely be a futile preemptive strike, and note that on economic policy — which sort of matters — Kasich is terrible, arguably worse than the rest of the GOP field.
It’s not just his balanced-budget fetishism, which would be disastrous in an economic crisis. He’s also a hard-money man.
Ted Cruz has gotten some scrutiny, although not enough, for his goldbuggism. But Kasich, when asked why wages have stagnated, gave as his number one reason “because the Federal Reserve kept interest rates so low” — because this diverted investment into stocks, or something. No, it doesn’t make any sense — but it tells you that he is viscerally opposed to monetary as well as fiscal stimulus in the face of high unemployment.
So no, Kasich isn’t sensible. He’s just off the wall in ways that differ in some ways from the GOP mainstream. If he’d been president in 2009-10, we’d have had a full replay of the Great Depression.http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2016/02/08/hard-money-men-2/
If he does, there will be an outpouring of praise from self-proclaimed centrists, who will declare Kasich the sensible, responsible Republican of their dreams. So let me attempt what will surely be a futile preemptive strike, and note that on economic policy — which sort of matters — Kasich is terrible, arguably worse than the rest of the GOP field.
It’s not just his balanced-budget fetishism, which would be disastrous in an economic crisis. He’s also a hard-money man.
Ted Cruz has gotten some scrutiny, although not enough, for his goldbuggism. But Kasich, when asked why wages have stagnated, gave as his number one reason “because the Federal Reserve kept interest rates so low” — because this diverted investment into stocks, or something. No, it doesn’t make any sense — but it tells you that he is viscerally opposed to monetary as well as fiscal stimulus in the face of high unemployment.
So no, Kasich isn’t sensible. He’s just off the wall in ways that differ in some ways from the GOP mainstream. If he’d been president in 2009-10, we’d have had a full replay of the Great Depression.http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2016/02/08/hard-money-men-2/
