Krugsandra on Obama

Once again, Krugsandra says precisely what I'm thinking...  This time, on the administration's decision to cave in on ozone regulation:

The Obama political people seem to think that their route to victory is to avoid doing anything that the GOP might attack — but the GOP will call Obama a socialist job-killer no matter what they do. Meanwhile, they just keep reinforcing the perception of mush from the wimp, of a president who doesn’t stand for anything.

The post also reflects on the ongoing #EPICFAIL in our economic discourse.  The fact is that the ozone regulations would have created jobs because, as Keynes (and Krugsandra) rightly observe

[A] slump goes on until “the shortage of capital through use, decay and obsolescence” gets firms spending again to replace their plant and equipment.

And now you can see why tighter ozone regulation would actually have created jobs: it would have forced firms to spend on upgrading or replacing equipment, helping to boost demand. Yes, it would have cost money — but that’s the point! And with corporations sitting on lots of idle cash, the money spent would not, to any significant extent, come at the expense of other investment.