Bruce Bartlett thinks Republicans will have to start delivering the goods if they take over Congress next week. Matt Yglesias disagrees, citing research that voters always blame the president for whatever happens, not Congress. But:
Things look different in interest-group terms. CEOs do want their personal income taxes lower, do want the capital gains taxes they pay lower, and do want to be able to pollute and violate
labor law with impunity. But they presumably don’t want to see the economy fall into a depression and Speaker Boehner may be “responsible” in their eyes.
You’d think so, wouldn’t you? But the business community has long demonstrated a remarkable ability to value ideology over actual results. Think about it: if congressional Republicans had been in charge over the past couple of years, there would have been no TARP, no stimulus, and no auto rescue. In other words, the economy would be in truly harrowing shape and businesses would be failing left and right. What’s more, simple self interest dictates that going forward the business community ought to be clamoring for monetary easing and more fiscal stimulus, something that Republicans are dead set against. But they aren’t. In fact, they’re planning to vote in massive numbers for Republicans. They’re basically content with anemic economic growth.
I’m not quite sure what accounts for this. Opposing regulation I get. No one wants to be regulated. Ditto for higher taxes, even if they’re pretty modest. But why do corporate chieftans oppose true national healthcare even though it would almost certainly make their lives easier and make them more globally competitive? Why do they oppose cap-and-trade even though its effects are modest and the alternative is more intrusive EPA regulations? Why do they oppose fiscal stimulus even though it would spur the economy and be good for business?
It’s a mystery. I guess they truly don’t believe that stimulus spending will help. Or, maybe they don’t believe that anything the government does helps the economy. It’s hard to say. But whatever happens, I’ll bet they won’t hold Speaker Boehner responsible for it. They’ll blame it on stifling regulations or bad trade policy or too much government spending or bad currency management. Something that’s Obama’s fault. It’ll always be Obama’s fault.
