http://www.bradford-delong.com/2015/07/cargo-cult-economic-policy-vs-people-who-actually-have-clue-jeb-bush-vs-hillary-rodham-clinton.html#more Cargo-Cult Economic Policy vs. People Who Actually Have Clue: J.E.B. Bush vs. Hillary Rodham Clinton
Well, this morning gives me--me, who was a profound Hillary Rodham Clinton skeptic after 1993-1994--yet one more very powerful reason to think that Hillary Rodham Clinton would make a much better president than J.E.B. Bush:
Back when I read Jeb Bush's Detroit "Economic Policy" speech, the thing that most astonished me was how thin it was. 3088 words. And yet the things that could count as federal economic policy proposals were few. It read not as a federal economic policy speech, but rather as a simulacrum of a federal economic policy speech spoken by somebody who really didn't know what a federal economic policy speech was--a cargo-cult airfield rather than a real World War II-era Pacific military aviation base.
Instead of policy proposals and directions, there were a lot pieces of what could even politely only be called fluff.
There were simply lies:
We have seen them cut the definition of a full-time job from 40 to 30 hours, slashing the ability of paycheck earners to make ends meet...
But under Obama the definition of "full time" remains what it has long been: 35 hours a week. And how is a shift in the government's classification system that never happened supposed to alter contracts and slash the income of workers, anyway?
There was a not-very-relevant dog whistle against gay marriage:
Let’s start with the first principle: When it comes to ensuring opportunity and a chance at success, the most important factor isn’t government. It’s a committed family.... “Were they raised in a loving household by two parents? If you didn’t, you can overcome it, but it’s very hard. If you did, you have a built-in advantage in life"...
There was a decently-draped dog whisper for fewer fair-employment standards and more tax cuts for the rich:
The right to rise depends on a government that makes it easier to work than not work. That means fewer laws restricting the labor market and reducing the penalties that come with moving up from the lowest rungs of the ladder...
There was a shout-out to a 21-person company making TV remotes:
In the Madison Building, not far from here, new companies are rising. One of them, iRule, is led by two young men, one born in Russia, the other in Israel. They left secure jobs as automotive engineers to start their business in 2009.... Three years later, they have 21 employees...
(This disturbs me most because it suggests that Jeb Bush's staff cut-and-pasted from an article written in 2012--three years after 2009--and that neither his staff nor he noted that it is now 2015.)
There was confusion about what policies are federal and what policies are state and local:
Let’s close the opportunity gap, and that starts with doing everything we can to give every child, from every neighborhood, a great education.... Accountability for teachers and school administrators, assessment of student learning, high standards, and choices. These key elements of school reform work and we have the results to prove it...
There was a call to make economic disruption easier:
Competition is messy. But it’s essential. We’ve all seen the battles: The taxicab companies fight against web-enabled car services. The restaurants fight against the food trucks. The brick-and-mortar retailers fight against the Internet companies. I’m not here to take sides. And I don’t think government should either. Because when government protects one business against another, or tilts the field of competition, there is a clear loser: Anyone who wants to create something as a team. Anyone who wants to innovate and shake things up. Anyone who wants more choices and better service. And we know that in the end, standing against competition and dynamism is a losing battle...
Last, we had the rather-unusual:
Growth above all. A growing economy, whether here in Detroit or throughout this country is the difference between poverty and prosperity for millions.... I don’t think the US should settle for anything less than 4% growth a year...
But how are we going to get to such an unrealistic and implausible goal?
Bush says that he has no idea--but that he hopes that his staff can think of something:
In the coming months, I intend to detail how we can get there, with a mix of smart policies and reforms to tap our resources and capacity to innovate, whether in energy, manufacturing, health care or technology...
The overall vibe is "cargo cult": People who do not know what a substantive economic policy speech really is, but who have heard a number of such without understanding what is really being said. Most past Republican presidents could actually make an economic policy speech. In them, they would call for things like:
- big tax cuts
- an interstate highway system
- reducing the influence of the military-industrial complex
- heavy restrictions on immigration
- aggressive enforcement of antitrust policies
- free soil and free labor.
Bush? "In the coming months, I intend to detail... a mix of smart policies and reforms..."
In striking context, Hillary Rodham Clinton this morning has a lot to say. Her speech text has--surprise, surprise--footnotes. The policies enumerated, listed, and referred to have had serious work done on them: their likely effects have been estimated, and estimated honestly. Their potential implementation paths have been mapped out.
One of these two candidates knows what she would do come January 2017. The other--well, there is no sign that there has been any thought at all about what he would do after November 2016. That's an important difference to note.
Hillary Rodham Clinton:
Every candidate talks about the middle class and the American Dream. The question is: how do we do it?... All of the Republicans running for President believe the answer can be found in what they used to call trickle down or supply-side economics.... Cut taxes for those at the top, loosen rules on the financial industry, roll back protections for workers and consumers, and reduce most public investments. Republicans have argued for decades that these steps will create more wealth at the top that will then trickle down to everyone else. And for decades they've been wrong. Their policies contributed to the financial crash that wrecked our economy, turned surpluses into deficits, and led to an unprecedented concentration of wealth and power for those who already have a lot of both....Today is not 1992, before the Internet Revolution, or 2000, when we had not yet faced the full force of globalization.... Today is not 2008 or even 2012.... We're not yet running the way America should....You may have heard Governor Bush say last week that Americans just need to work longer hours. Well, he must not have met very many American workers. Let him tell that to the nurse who stands on her feet all day or the trucker who drives all night. Let him tell that to the fast food workers marching in the streets for better pay. They don’t need a lecture--they need a raise....Today I am proposing a different path....If we can get closer to full employment, employers will have to compete with each other to hire workers....We need to... dramatically increase investments in the engines of growth... funding scientific and medical research... establishing an infrastructure bank... investing in faster broadband networks... making America the word's clean energy superpower... cutting unnecessary red tape... reviving the Export-Import Bank... preventing bigger businesses from exploiting market concentration and political influence... mak[ing] college more affordable and accessible... break[ing] down barriers so more Americans can join the workforce--especially women....Nearly half of all working parents with young children in this country have passed up a job because it conflicted with family obligations. They also show that the expansion of family-friendly policies in other countries, including paid leave, explains nearly one-third of our comparative decline in women's labor force participation. We can't afford to leave talent on the sidelines, but that's exactly what we're doing. So it's time to make quality, affordable childcare more available to families... earned sick days and fair scheduling....Beyond stronger growth, we also need fairer growth.... The reason everyday Americans aren't being rewarded the way they should isn't because they aren't working hard enough or long enough.... Expanded profit sharing would put more money directly into the pockets of workers, boost bottom lines, and give everyone a stake in the companyÕs success.... We also have to raise the minimum wage and implement President Obama's new rules on overtime. Crack down on wage theft and misclassification....Senior executives or hedge-fund managers shouldn't ever pay a lower tax rate than any nurse or a teacher... closing the carried interest loophole... support[ing] the so-called Buffett Rule... strengthening the hand of employees to organize and bargain collectively.... Republicans like Scott Walker and Chris Christie have made their names stomping on workers' rights... I'll fight back against these mean-spirited, misguided attacks, and defend Americans' right to organize....Too much of our economy has become focused on making a quick buck instead of building real value. You actually hear this from a lot of frustrated CEOs... desperate to escape the tyranny of the quarterly earnings report.... I will propose a plan to reform capital gains taxes to reward longer-term investments that create jobs rather than short-term trading.... Companies like Trader Joe's and QuikTrip have prospered by paying higher wages that yield higher productivity and better service....Nowhere will the shift from short-term to long-term be more important than on Wall Street.... Republicans in Congress... have slipped deregulatory provisions into must-pass bills, allowing the biggest banks once again to engage in risky activities with complex financial instruments. And they have committed to defunding the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.... As President, I will fight back against these attacks and defend the reforms we've made.... Too many financial institutions are still too big, too complex, and too risky. And the problems aren't limited to the big banks that get all the headlines....I will propose ways that we can get rising health costs under control, which is one of the key drivers of our long-term deficits, so that our fiscal outlook is sustainable...
If you care about competence in government — or even about whether your government sets any form of technocratic competence as even one of its goals — you must vastly prefer Hillary Rodham Clinton to J.E.B. Bush.
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