Worms and Fools

Well, as usual, I had to open the newspaper to the letters to the editor section to find yet another dumb conservative spouting off about economics. Since newspapers like the Oregonian and Statesman Journal are filled with editors and ombudspeople that are nothing but a collection of spineless worms, I’ll share my letter with you here, dear readers:
The Statesman Journal should do a better job screening its letters. Recently, I read a ridiculously dumb tirade by a conservative reader who claimed that Obama’s stimulus package is going to cause inflation, and then proceeded to lecture us “liberals/socialists” on the finer points of economics.
I teach economics, and I get my information from people like Adam Smith, Dr. John Nash, and Dr. Paul Krugman, as opposed to the conservative gentleman, who I’m guessing gets his from Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity. By the way, neither Hannity, nor Limbaugh, ever graduated from college.
As for the economics: spending money through government entities, such as schools, publics works projects, research grants, etc. is almost a sure fire way to boost the economy. By paying the salaries of both public, and government contracted, private workers, the stimulus will fill in the sag in demand that has occurred recently due to the housing market’s collapse and the general contraction of the economy. The assertion that this will cause any kind of dangerous inflation is laughable.
Additionally, the gentleman may want to check his numbers. The CPI, the government’s method for measuring inflation, has recently fallen about 1.3% over the past year, meaning that we are currently experiencing deflation. So, even if the stimulus does cause some inflation, that might not necessarily be a bad thing.
This is the problem with our current political climate: media sources, whose duty to the public as the fourth estate and controller of information is to report facts, consistently treat conservative rhetoric as if it is actually a rational world view, which, as the Republican Party veers ever to the right, is absurd, obnoxious, and totally irresponsible. When the Statesman receives a letter of this nature, the proper thing to do would be to call the gentleman and laugh at him when he answers, or, if you really wanted to stay classy, you could just throw it away.
Remember, these are people that do not believe in science, that have replaced reason and constructive thinking with faith, and continue to believe in ideas and theories that, when put in practice, are disastrous. The Statesman would do well to remember this the next time they decide to publish a letter, or op-ed for that matter, that displays such a lack of intelligence and critical thought.