Yostivanich

Take the ques­tion of help­ing the unem­ployed in the mid­dle of a deep slump. What Democ­rats believe is what text­book eco­nom­ics says: that when the econ­omy is deeply depressed, extend­ing unem­ploy­ment ben­e­fits not only helps those in need, it also reduces unem­ploy­ment. That’s because the economy’s prob­lem right now is lack of suf­fi­cient demand, and cash-strapped unem­ployed work­ers are likely to spend their ben­e­fits. In fact, the Con­gres­sional Bud­get Office says that aid to the unem­ployed is one of the most effec­tive forms of eco­nomic stim­u­lus, as mea­sured by jobs cre­ated per dol­lar of outlay.

…

Now, the House has already passed a bill that, by exempt­ing the assets of cou­ples up to $7 mil­lion, would leave 99.75 per­cent of estates tax-free. But that doesn’t seem to be enough for Mr. Kyl; he’s will­ing to hold up des­per­ately needed aid to the unem­ployed on behalf of the remain­ing 0.25 per­cent. That’s a very clear state­ment of priorities.

…

Some­day, some­how, we as a nation will once again find our­selves liv­ing on the same planet. But for now, we aren’t. And that’s just the way it is.

via Op-Ed Colum­nist — Sen­a­tor Bunning’s Uni­verse — NYTimes.com. Krug­man tak­ing it old school at the state of Amer­i­can politics.