Hillary Clinton(HC) : "I think a return to fiscal discipline, living within our means, is essential to our long-term health."
Joe, an Econ 101 student who doesn't use Joe Stiglitz's undergraudate text: That is easy, just ask the government to spend less, waste less and do less.
HC: "It is also critical to whether or not we control our own destiny as a nation. Red-ink fiscal policies will undermine America's competitiveness. We have to ask ourselves whether our taxing and spending policies are in line with our economic goals."
Joe: If she is referring to US as a nation when she mentioned "our economic goals", that is nonsense. For a country, unlike a person, cannot have its own goals. And if she is referring to each and every American citizens, then what she said is nonsense as well. For there is no set of economic policies that would make everybody happy.
HC: "America did not build the greatest economy in the world because we had rich people... We built the greatest economy in the world because we built the American middle class."
JOE: First of all, the market is not something that you build nor create. It emerges. Once you think otherwise, the government will then think that it has the ability to tinker with the operation of the market. Well, if you could create a market, it is only logical for you to have the ability to steer it onto some other path as well.
Second, the operation of the market does not favor any particular class. Yes, not even the middle class. Historically, markets, if unfettered, make the emergence of the middle class possible. But that is different from saying that the market has a bias towards certain class.
If you want to read more on Hillary's thoughts on economic policies, read the Washington Post story here.
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