Paul Krugman Reminds Us That Bowles-Simpson Was Terrible

Originally posted at Capital Gains and Games. [1]

Over at his own blog, Paul Krugman says something [2] that can't be said enough: The plan Bowles and Simpson proposed would have been terrible fiscal policy had it been adopted.

Krugman doesn't include one other thing that also needs to be repeated again and again and again: The plan announced by Bowles and Simpson was not adopted by the Bowles-Simpson commission. It was just something proposed by the two co-chairs that didn't have enough support to move forward.

In fact, there wasn't even a formal vote. Bowles and Simpson decided not to take a formal vote when it became clear that their plan was only supported by 11 of the 14 members of the commission that were needed to move it forward.

For the record, the three B-S commission (yes, I'm calling it that intentionally) members whose support would have moved the plan forward but whose opposition killed it were House Budget Committee and GOP vice presidential nominee Paul Ryan (R-WI), House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Dave Camp (R-MI), and House Republican Conference Chairman Jeb Hensarling (R-TX).

What makes this more infuriating is how Bowles and Simpson have been hawking their plan as the official final report of the B-S commission [3]. Again, for the record, there was no report and Bowles and Simpson are lying when they refer to it that way.