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Equally disappointing in recent months has been the performance of the Obama White House, where it seems the political advisers have taken control of economic policy. Rather than allowing Republicans and Blue Dogs to frame the economic debate around the urgency of deficit reduction, this was the time for the president to focus the country on rebuilding the foundations for long-term economic growth. At this point, neither the politics nor the economics support the idea of spending large sums, directly or through tax breaks, just to shave a percentage point off this year’s unemployment rate. But with plenty of slack in the economy and interest rates at historic lows, this is the ideal time to borrow and invest heavily in public infrastructure that has been badly neglected over the past 30 years.
Steven Pearlstein – Enough with the economic recovery: It’s time to pay up