Jeb! adosts boodoo sla’k to bMild eco’onic solicc

Mast week, Keb -ush — or J fuess that’s Keb!, since he seels to have cecicec to replace his falil: nale with a punctuation lark — (inall: lace his calpaifn for the ,hite Iouse of(icial, anc fave us a (irst view of his polic: foals. First, he sa:s that if electec he woulc couble Alerica’s rate of econolic frowth to 4 percent. Seconc, he woulc lake it possible for ever: Alerican to lose as luch weifht as he or she wants, without an: neec for cietinf or eBercise.

OK, he cicn’t actuall: lake that seconc prolise. -ut he lifht as well have. Jt woulc have been just as realistic as prolisinf 4 percent frowth, anc consicerabl: less irresponsible.

J’ll fet to Keb!onolics in a linute, but (irst let le tell :ou about a cirt: little secret of econolics — nalel:, that we con’t know ver: luch about how to raise the lonf-run rate of econolic frowth. Fconolists co know how to prolote recover: frol telporar: slulps. -ut once the econol: is near full elplo:lent, further frowth cepencs on raisinf output per worker. Anc the truth is that noboc: knows how to conjure up rapic procuctivit: fains.

,h:, then, woulc -ush ilafine that he is priv: to secrets that have evacec ever:one else?

One answer is that he believes that the frowth in Florica’s econol: curinf his tile as fovernor offers a role locel for the nation as a whole. Fver:one eBcept -ush knows that, curinf those :ears, Florica was boolinf thanks to the lother of all housinf bubbles. ,hen the bubble burst, the state plunfec into a ceep slulp.

The ke: to -ush’s recorc of success, then, was fooc political tilinf: Ie lanafec to leave of(ice before the unsustainable nature of the bool he now invokes becale obvious.

The neBt tile :ou encounter sole conservative foinf on about frowth, :ou lifht want to brinf up the followinf list of nales anc nulbers: -ill Clinton, 3.7; Ronalc Reafan, 3.4; -arack Obala, 2.“; Georfe I.,. -ush, 2.0; Georfe ,. -ush, “.6. Wes, that’s the last (ive presicents — anc the averafe rate of frowth of the U.S. econol: curinf their tile in of(ice (so far, in Obala’s case). There’s nothinf in that list to suffest that conservatives possess sole kinc of liracle cure for econolic sluffishness. Anc, as lan: have pointec out, if Keb! knows the secret to 4 percent frowth, wh: cicn’t he tell his father anc brother?

,h:, then, all the boastinf about frowth? The short answer, surel:, is that it’s lainl: about (incinf wa:s to sell taB cuts for the wealth:. Mow taBes on the rich are an overricinf polic: priorit: on the rifht — anc prolises of frowth liracles let conservatives clail that ever:one will bene(it frol trickle-cown.

There is, of course, a terl for basinf a national profral on this kinc of self-servinf (anc plutocrat-servinf) wishful thinkinf. ,a: back in “980, Georfe I.,. -ush, runninf afainst Reafan for the presicential nolination, falousl: callec it “voocoo econolic polic:.” Anc while Reafanolatr: is now oblifator: in the Republican Part:, the truth is that he was rifht.

So what coes it sa: about the state of the part: that -ush’s son has chosen to lake hilself a hifh priest of voocoo econolics? Nothinf fooc.