Sunday, August 1, 2010

Monetary Policy on a Sunday Morning

In "proof-that-I-like-sane-conservatives-when-I-find-them" news, this NYTimes Op Ed from Reagan's former Office of Management of the Budget head is a very succinct and thorough accounting of how the Republican party systemically tore to pieces the concept of a balanced budget going all the way back to Richard Nixon. RTWT.

It's a very convincing case of how Republicans have torn apart our financial management, to the point that I almost hate to observe that the Democrats have more involvement in it than the editorial acknowledges. But there's a lot in the op-ed that I certainly hadn't considered before -- particularly how Nixon's choice to end Breton Woods still has crippling effects today.