Will Economics

George Will has a typically snide column today, mocking Democratic complaints about the economy and income inequality.

As Will would say: Well.

I will stipulate that Democrats, especially Democrats running for President, tend to speak in economic generalities and banalities, and that vast improvement is needed in this area, particularly in the debates.

But Will neglects two important realities. First, he correlates tax cuts by Reagan and Bush II with economic growth, without discussing the economic growth that succeeded President Clinton's "largest tax increase in history" in 1993, despite economic prognostications of the opposite.

Second, while he oddly ridicules Democratic "moralists" for complaining about income inequality, he seems to forget meaningful, non-tax-cut-related acts of government construed to worsen it, such as 2005's bankrupcy "reform" legislation, passed by the Republican Congress in its last hurrah and signed by the President into law at the behest of the nation's predatory lending credit card barons.

Will also neglects the attempt by Democrats to increase the minimum wage, another measure intended to elevate the well-being of the less privileged while at the same time infusing that group with more cash for consumption, the better in order to fuel the economy.

And what about exorbitant corporate pay scales? And adjustable rate mortgages (ARMs) that have been downsizing and outcosting many of the nation's once grateful homeowners?

Maybe Democrats find a way to talk about these things in upcoming debates and in their campaign ads. And maybe take a cue from Will and emphasize the morality of such actions and concerns.