Say’s Law For Thee But Not For Me

Mark Thoma notes a double standard in the conservative outcry over the Keystone XL decision. As he notes, when it comes to the question of whether government spending can create jobs, the usual suspects claim that it’s logically impossible: income has to be spent somewhere, so all the government can do is divert funds from other uses. But when it’s a private investment, somehow that logic no longer applies.

They also fail to connect tax cuts and tax credits to Say’s Law. The larger point is that they don’t care if the argument is true. It doesn’t have to be true for them to benefit from it.