Friday, May 28, 2010

Liesman's Economic Folly This Morning On CNBC

George W. Bush's economic adviser, Ed Lazar, was a guest host on CNBC this morning. As part of the discussion, he was forced to tolerate CNBC's resident economic idiot, Steve Liesman.

Liesman resembles nothing so much as the young child allowed, for the first time, to join the adult table at a holiday dinner. Because he was on the set with a real economist, Lazar, Liesman got to pretend he is one, as well.

Thus, the hapless CNBC reporter earnestly challenged Lazar on the subject of taxes. Liesman, being the typical liberal, equipped to think incorrectly and ignore empirical evidence, insisted that our current federal debt obligations will just have to require more and higher taxes. How else can we ever pay those debts?

With a straight face appropriate for a simpleton, Liesman declared that debts this massive require action on 'both sides,' meaning spending restraint and higher taxes. Never mind the evidence that higher taxes depress the economic activity and risk-taking so crucial to job and GDP growth, or that those higher taxes never actually collect the higher revenues anticipated.

Liesman wouldn't understand these things because he's not an economist- he's an economic reporter who gets to sit with degreed professional economists and talk as if his comments have equal merit.

When will CNBC wake up and fire this dunce?

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