Talk about just not getting it...

Well, here we are, into a new year, and into a new administration in the White House. Are we better off? Well, no, and we won't be for quite a while. After all, it's taken nearly three decades to eff this economy up; we're not going to fix it overnight.
I'm grimly amused by the debates going on in the media these days, though. At CNBC, we have the battery of experts decrying most of the Administration's attempts to undo some of the harm that's been done by the preceding crowd. "We need more bankers and financial experts handling this!" is one of their cries, "We need people who know how to do this stuff."
Now, the people our pundit friends want to take care of this have just spent most of the last decade proving to all and sundry that they manifestly do not know how to "do this stuff." Do we really want them to keep running the show? I don't think so.
Then again, one of Larry Kudlow's more frequent guests these days is Art Laffer. Now, there's a guy whose last name is probably the best description of his economic policy. Hey, Larry, what's going on? Got some extra inventory of snake oil or something? Get with the program, Man. The really rich have already got most of the money, and they've already bought all the crap they want. Now, how 'bout we spread some around, so the rest of us can meet our bills?
This brings me to one of my favorite spectacles: The Republican Party hacks screaming about the stimulus package. "We need less spending and more tax cuts!" Honestly, now, haven't we been doing that since 1981? It's as if you went to see a doctor about a broken thumb and he tells you that what you really need to do is smack that broken thumb with a hammer a few times. Fix it right up, that will. Sure. Let's fix our economy by doing the same thing that broke it. Are we insane, or merely stupid? How can these guys walk the streets without people pointing and laughing? Well, there's a story there, and I'll work on that in future posts.