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I'm feeling a little under the weather today so I won't be blogging much (except to start trouble with Adam) but if you're really missing my opinions, I would urge you to check out this Guardian column I wrote on the brief GOP love affair with the Congressional Budget Office and its phantom report:
There was one problem with Henry's comment: there wasn't any report at all. Any journalist who called up the CBO or checked its website quickly found that out. Nonetheless, the "report" was cited on TV no less than 81 times since the story was first reported by the Associated Press. Republican leadership in Congress, with house minority leader John Boehner at the forefront, claimed the report proved "government spending isn't going to get our economy back on track."...But since conservatives are taking the CBO's reports so seriously now, they should spend time reading another missive from the office: CBO Director Doug Elmendorf's testimony in front of the House Budget Committee. In it, he projects that "economic output will remain significantly below its potential for several more years, so policies that provide stimulus for an extended period of time may be appropriate. Indeed, a fiscal stimulus that ends before the economy has started to regain its footing runs the risk of exacerbating economic weakness when the stimulus ends."Read the whole thing!
-- Tim Fernholz
