Trying to keep up with his fellow columnist Paul Krugman, David Brooks made a daring effort to earn himself the Nobel prize for non sequiturs today. In the context of warning President Obama to back off health care reform Brooks told readers: "This is a country that has always been suspicious of centralized government. This is a country that has just lived through an economic trauma caused by excessive spending and debt." Let's grant that there is a suspicion of centralized government. What does this have to do with the "economic trauma caused by excessive spending and debt." The excessive spending and debt was done by the private sector, as private bank credit fueled a speculative run-up in house prices. This led to booms in construction and consumption, both of which collapsed with the end of the housing bubble. Did Brooks somehow miss this one. It wasn't excessive government spending and debt that got us here. It was Robert Rubin, Angelo Mozilo, and the Wall Street crew that did it. If David Brooks really has so little understanding of the economic crisis maybe he should talk with Barney Frank's dining room table.
--Dean Baker
