Reality Is Not TV

After a week of listening to many Republicans demonstrate embarrassingly low levels of economic literacy in a futile attempt to score a few political points on high gas prices, I tuned in to C-SPAN last night and was reminded once again that, when it comes to ill-informed economic demagoguery, nobody does it better than the Democrats.

The setting was the largely empty chambers of the US House. The event was a dog and pony show masquerading as a forum staged by deservedly obscure Democratic Representatives complete with cheesy visual displays (did your 12 year old daughter make that graph for you?) and empty-headed rhetoric on the true state of the economy

For no matter what those pointed-headed dismal scientists tell you with all their fancy-schmacy numbers about GDP, low unemployment, consumer confidence, corporate profits, and the stock market, (you know, the statistics that have been used every since the science truly became dismal to measure economic performance?) these noble finders of fact know the real truth:

-The economy stinks and the ONLY people benefiting from it are the wealthiest 1% (and the oil companies)

-The middle class is being destroyed and we're on our way to becoming nothing more than a Banana Republic

-Republicans want to push the vulnerable into an "abyss" (yes, one of the Dems really did say that)

-The "Bush economy" is immoral

Anytime you hear the mention of morality in a discussion of the economy, you feel an instinctive need to put a protective hand on your wallet. For although none of these Dems openly proposed it last night, their obvious "solution" to the terrible state of the economy involved using the confiscatory power of the government to redistribute wealth. The not-quite-so-invisible hand of the taxman reaching into your pocket.

The spectacle was ably summarized by a female rep from Florida who asked, "How can anyone say that this economy is good when a gallon of gasoline costs three dollars?"

It's actually quite easy honey.

During the Clinton years, I don't recall the GOP trying to deny economic reality in such a manner. Sure, they minimized Clinton's impact on the economic boom and claimed that it would be even better if they were in power, but at least they were willing to face the facts as they were instead of living in some bizarro economic world (good is bad, up is down).

Whenever I force myself to listen to this nonsense for any length of time, I end up wondering if the Democrats spouting off are really that clueless about economics or whether they're cynically playing politics. Either way, the night demonstrated that any display of economic ignorance the Republicans can do, the Democrats can do better.

I realize that, as Stigler noted, anecdotes are not data, but when I witness displays of irrational dispiritedness such as last night's, I can't help but conclude that the current Democratic Party simply can't be trusted with the country's economic future.

UPDATE: While we're at it, how about raising a glass to the House GOP? (Nice to be able to say that for a change.)

House approves $70 billion tax cut bill

AND

House panel OKs bid to drill for natural gas in the Outer Continental Shelf:

A bid to open up the Outer Continental Shelf to drilling for natural gas cleared a key House committee Wednesday amid concerns about rising costs at the gas pumps.

The 37 to 25 vote in the House Appropriations Committee came despite protests from Florida lawmakers, who remain largely united in efforts to fend off oil or gas drilling.

The proposal "directly contradicts the widespread belief that drilling off our coastlines would be devastating for the people of Florida and our nation," said Rep. Allen Boyd, a Panhandle Democrat. "Offshore drilling in the Gulf of Mexico...poses a risk to our nation's military readiness by placing severe restrictions on the ability of the Air Force and the Navy to train in airspace and naval zones in the Gulf."

But the House sponsor, Rep. John Peterson, R-Pa., suggesting the vote was a "seismic shift" in the debate over energy production, called it a "first step"' toward fixing an energy supply problem created more than a generation ago.

"The burden has now shifted onto those who oppose the safe production of domestic natural gas to explain to the American people why this country should continue to lock up vast reserves of energy while home-grown industries and the American consumer class continue to pay the highest prices in the world," Peterson said.

Amen.