American parochialism at its best
Watched an interesting segment on CNN the other day with two economists – one supposedly left wing (Justin Wolfers) and one supposedly right wing (Reihan Salam) – discussing the stimulus package with Lou Dobbs. Meant to be a debate, but they ended up agreeing on most things. Worth watching.
The thing that struck me was when Mr Dobbs challenged them both to “Name an economic stimulus package that has ever worked?” with the clear implication that they could not. Mr Salam responded with “I think that there actually are some stimulus plans that have worked pretty effectively”, and started to give an example of a stimulus plan in Singapore. Lou Dobbs cut him off with a quick “No, no, no .. Thank you very much for the global tour, but I’m talking about the American economy.” Mr Salam then praised the WPA in the 30’s and 40’s.
Surely Mr Dobbs is smart enough to know that economic principles work in other countries in the same way they work in the US? It’s a bit like discounting experiments on gravity because they occurred in Europe!
But at least he had the grace to let Mr Salam discuss American stimulus plans that had worked.
Just goes to show what Rupert Murdoch learned many years ago – it’s not about news, it’s about entertainment.
