What a Laff(er)

Check out this Op-Ed by Arthur Laffer in today's WSJ. There is much to agree with in this piece, particularly, his lack of faith in the government being able to correct things (though, I don't know what he proposes as an alternative now that we are saddled with this mess.) The big problem, and this diminishes his credibility (if he has any after the total demise of trickle-down theory) is how much he politicizes this issue with statements like this:

" If you don't believe me, just watch how Congress and Barney Frank run the banks. If you thought they did a bad job running the post office, Amtrak, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and the military, just wait till you see what they'll do with Wall Street."

I don't claim that Barney Frank and Congress will make all the right decisions, but let's be fair, Barney Frank and the Democrats have only been in charge of Congress for less than two years. Laffer cannot not possibly claim with any credibility that all the current problems have to do with policy set by Frank and friends, especially with Bush in the White House with veto power. Admittedly, some of the problems began under Clinton (lessening lending standards for Freddie and Fannie) but were severely compounded by deregulation and lack of oversight under Bush and a Republican Congress. There is plenty of blame to go around.