Opinion at odds with the facts

Published 4:09 pm Thursday, March 1, 2012

Finally, a McCusker column I can agree with. This week he wrote that government must make citizens whole when they make a mistake. Mr. McCusker is listed as a Bothell economist which has lead me to, sometimes, fear for the economy of Bothell. I have a couple of recent examples where Mr. McCusker has showered us with his personal opinion in a fact-averse way.

Last week, McCusker allowed as how President Obama was not a socialist. He went on to quote the president saying that, “We cannot cut our way out of a recession.” McCusker then added that we cannot spend our way out of recession either. He cited the use of OPM (other people’s money — taxes.) Ignoring the fact that one of the best ways out of a recession is government spending. Infrastructure spending and unemployment insurance are two of the best ways. They do work. But, in the opinion of Mr. McCusker they are anathema because they use his precious OPM.

The week prior to that, he took issue with President Obama’s proposal to strip tax breaks from companies that want to move their jobs overseas. He used the astounding logic that those companies might then be trapped here and go out of business. Say what? Look, if a company is going to move overseas then I don’t care what happens to them. And I’m certainly not going to give them a tax break to move. I’m not trying to put down Mr. McCusker, he’s probably an interesting guy to have a beer with. But he leads me to my larger point that we have to change the dynamic in this country where we have socialism for the 1 percent and capitalism for everyone else.

Steven E. Bates

Everett