Niall Ferguson - Niall Ferguson, MA, D.Phil., is the Laurence A. Tisch Professor of History at Harvard University. He is a resident faculty member of the Minda de Gunzburg Center for European Studies.
He is also a Senior Research Fellow of Jesus College, Oxford University, and a Senior Fellow of the Hoover Institution, Stanford University.
The Old Man and the (Blue) Sea: Why America Needs a McCain Presidency with Niall Ferguson.
Ferguson makes a passionate argument why America should be enthusiastic about a John McCain Presidency. The event was part of the Hoover Institution's April 2008 Retreat.
How did the Bush tax cuts save the economy if we're in the situation we are now just 6 years later. America needs long term economic solutions that do no involve deregulation (of finance) which caused the credit crisis. Fiscal conservatism is a gimmick republicans use to get in office, and clearly the big government republican machine enjoys 'Spend and Spend' economics. How do the billions that Obama proposes to spend on the american people compare to the trillions of long term investment in Iraq. Nail Ferguson's defenses of McCain all hinge on his belief that he can correct problems the George Bush created. The recession, exacerbated national debt, and a failed iraq are all republican problems to which 4 more years of republican governance are no response.
He spoke of John McCain as a pilot. He crashed 4 military owned aircraft plus an ultra light.
He used the” crazy man with a bomb foreign policy” approach to intimidate countries form nuclear proliferation. It failed with Nixon, Reagan and Bush.
With McCain it’s judgment. As a student, pilot, family man, social life, friends, legislator and party leader, the guy is on the wrong side of everything. He is on the immoral side of most gray areas. It’s as if he hasn’t been vetted
The Bush tax cuts didn't 'solve' the 2001 recession expansionary monetary policy did by encouraging debt spending.
Expansionary monetary policy wont work this time consumer confidence is too low and debt too high for people to increase spending much and remember the cash rate today is the same as what got America out of that recession.
This man suggests that conventional wisdom on dealing with recessions is to NOT increase government spending to stimulate demand. 350billion dollars going straight into the economy is exactly what is required (actually you need more)
If you put a contractionary fiscal policy on a contracting economy may god help you.
He also believes that escalating tensions in the middle east and against Russia will decrease tensions. It is an policy which could lead to major war.