The Pain Caucus rides again

By Dave Anderson:

The Pain Caucus is a perpetual thorn in the side of progressives as a prerequisite to be serious is to be innumerate to the degree that solving any problem by government action even if it results in lower spending profiles must be opposed if somewhere, some poor person (poor defined as someone earning under median income) is made better off.  This is the source of elite support for wrecking Social Security --- we must cut benefits now to forestall the possibility of small future cuts (forget the fact that we are playing fiscal three card monte where the savings that extend the trust fund don't count as that would require higher income taxes in the near future.) 

Paul Krugman is fighting the good fight against the invisible inferi and bond vigilantes who are forcing long term interest rates to record lows because they are so concerned about future inflation!

And some of the scenarios being proposed were just plain bizarre: the
bond bubble will burst, and this will plunge us into recession, and the
Fed will have to buy up government debt, and this will mean inflation
too. Really.

And then the whole story shifted: suddenly it wasn�t the carry trade,
it was sovereign debt risks, we�re all Greece.

And now there�s a new one: you see, low interest rates will cause
deflation. Really
(near the end).

And though the story shifts, the moral is always the same: the little
people have to suffer. [emphasis mine]

The underlying concept of supply side economics as it has been implemented is that the little people (97% of the US population) have it too easy, and can buy up too many scarce resources thus increasing prices. Anything that makes it harder for the little people through price signals or cutting back the safety net is a good thing; fuck the costs, as the elite can externalize or make it back with another capital gains tax cut.