Wednesday, August 19, 2009

Warren Buffett's piece...

...in today's New York Times is getting a lot of attention, in part because of his warning that the federal deficit will climb to 13 percent of GDP this year, more than twice the non-wartime record (my emphasis). While he acknowledges that the spending was necessary to avoid a depression, it gives further voice to the tea bag-types who are complaining so loudly about the government's actions in the last year. It's kind of like rescuing a drowning man and having him complain afterwards that you hurt his arm when you yanked him out of the water.

Oh, and the modern-day record for the deficit was 30 percent of GDP at the end of World War II. It pulled the U. S. out of the Depression, did not result in hyperinflation, and led to the great prosperity of the 1950s and '60s.

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