When a Plan Fails, Is the Solution to Do it Again?

A departing Obama administration economic advisor who helped craft the stimulus package announced in her last speech that the plan failed to generate growth and jobs. Her suggested solution is to do it again. In fact, it is to "tax less and spend more."

Now, if government deficits and debt are bad and drag down our economic performance and confidence, it would seem that we should spend less or tax more, but not the other way around. And if, as has been shown from the time of Kennedy onward, tax rates are reduced, then government revenues actually increase because people have more to invest and spend, then taxing more should be off the table. Therefore, the solution is to spend less--much less.

I know, I don't have advanced degrees in economics. But I did read Henry Hazlitt's Economics in One Lesson and listened well to Dr. Allen Monroe in Foundations of Social Science class. Why, if uncontrolled debt is bad for me and spending more than I take in is devastating, should I believe it is good for a society?

Read the speech and commentary here: Romer: My Plan Failed FrumForum