Update on this morning's post

-- Posted by Neil H. Buchanan

In my post this morning, the eighth paragraph begins: "More broadly, a very large number of Democrats ..." I have re-written the second sentence of that paragraph (regarding Sen. Bayh's departure from the Senate) to clarify my point, which was obscured by poor self-editing. Interested readers might want to glance at the re-written argument.

The bigger point is this: Many Democrats are competing with each other to see who can sound "tougher" about deficit spending. This puts Democrats in league with Republicans in denying the central macroeconomic lesson of the New Deal -- that there is an essential and unique role for the federal government to fight economic downturns through deficit spending.