Daily Austerity Watch: David Stockman’s Comeback

Here at Daily Austerity Watch, we have followed the resurrection of David Stockman with some interest.  It has been nothing short of amazing.

Stockman was a pariah to conservatives after President Ronald Reagan took him “to the woodshed” in 1981 after his Budget Director gave William Greider of the Atlantic Monthly a critique of the administration’s supply side policies.  He later apologized to Reagan and was forgiven.  The metaphor that sprung from the incident became part of the lexicon.

Later, he entered the private sector making millions as an investment banker.   Stockman joined the  auto parts maker Collins & Aikman,  joining the board in 2000 and becoming CEO in August 2003.  The firm filed for bankruptcy protection in 2005, five days after Stockman resigned.  He was charged in 2007 with defrauding investors, banks and shareholders of $1.6 billion.  Two years later, Stockman and three other executives were cleared of wrongdoing.

Since his  name was cleared, Stockman has let his freak flag fly, at least by the standards of fiscal conservatives.   He no longer gives a damn who wants to send him to the woodshed and why.   Consider what he said to the Daily Beast about the looming government shutdown: “Bring it on.”

Who does Stockman think he is Arnold Schwarzenegger (from the “Terminator” and not his days as governor of California)?    Stockman, though, is quite serious, as the website notes.

“I think the Republicans need to stand rigidly firm and shut the government down for a few days,” The Daily Beast says. “The Obama White House is weak. If the Republicans hold the line, Obama will fold faster than a lawn chair. And the Republicans will get their $60 billion in reductions.”

Talks to keep the government opened are ongoing as tonight’s deadline looms.  The differences are tiny over such fiscally trivial matters as defunding  PBS and Planned Parenthood.  Even Tea Party darling, Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MM), doesn’t think a shutdown will happen.   One Congressional aide told the Wall Street Journal that “There has not been much movement on the cuts.”  The pubic relations problems of furloughing 800,000 workers, closing national parks and delaying paychecks for the military would be horrendous for both parties.   The Minnesota Republican told CNN that an even bigger fight is looming  over next year’s budget.  Sadly, she may be right.

Earlier this month, House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) unveiled a spending plan that would cut $6.2 billion from the president’s budget over the next 10 year.  Ryan’s proposal was given kudos from conservatives including the Wall Street Journal editorial page.  Stockman ,however, believes that Ryan didn’t go far enough.

“I think he has a nice philosophical plan for the fiscal hereafter, two or three decades down the road,” Stockman tells the website “But it is neither courageous nor relevant when it comes to the fiscal here and now.”

Stockman is not the first pundit to warn about the growth in entitlement spending.  The President’s Deficit Commission made that point last year.  Experts will make that point again next year.

That’s because no one ever will do anything about it.

–Jonathan Berr