If only...

There are many times when we wish "if only" -- if only smarter people were in charge, if only the media focused on what was important, if only politicians would worry about jobs and not the deficit, if only America appeared to be true to its ideals. Well, having written that list, it's a bit anticlimactic to append the two links that sparked it, but here they are:

1. I wish smart econ bloggers were in charge!

   In a rational world, there should be no discussion of the deficit as policy. Team D and Team R would present their competing visions for what the government should spend money on, and where that money should come from. ... Ideally, we'd have one party that thinks we should spend a bit more on things like social safety nets, and do so with more progressive taxation, and one party which thinks we should spend a bit less, and with more regressive taxation, and the voters would have a reasonably clear choice.

   Sounds like crazy socialist Euro-think!


2. I wish that people wouldn't fantasize that Presidents can fix everything!

   The federal government is full of smart, competent, persuasive people working in a system that prevents them from rapidly addressing even the problems with obvious solutions. Let’s see some realistic thought experiments that address that.

Well, at least there are some homework projects for the industrious among us to contemplate and maybe even work on...