It's Still the Economy Stupid

By Robert Pollin, Dollars and Sense. Posted March 20, 2008.

"It's the economy, stupid" was the one memorable slogan to have emerged out of Bill Clinton's successful first run at the presidency in 1992, and it became the overarching theme of his eight years in office. As the U.S. economy has continued to spiral downward in the first months of 2008, the economy is again emerging as the single most important question of the presidential campaign, even eclipsing the Iraq war as a concern among voters.

What do Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, and John McCain have to say about our current reality of financial crisis and recession, and the generation-long stagnation in average living standards that has preceded the crisis of the moment? There aren't significant distinctions between Obama and Clinton in terms of their campaign platforms, while both Democratic contenders share huge differences with McCain. But the most important question is not where these candidates stand during the campaign; it's what they would actually do while in office. And this is more a matter of political power -- which social groups can exert pressure within a new administration -- than of economic philosophy.

This point was highlighted in dramatic fashion near the end of the March 4 primary campaigns in Ohio and Texas when Austan Goolsbe, a professor at the University of Chicago and Obama's chief economic adviser, was reported to have told Canadian diplomats that Obama was far more sympathetic to free trade measures such as NAFTA than he was letting on in his campaign speeches. Goolsbe denied saying this. But the fact is, we can't know what Obama will really do on NAFTA and related measures until he becomes president, facing a whole range of pressures. These will include big business continuing to seek free access to Mexico's vast pool of low-wage workers.

In terms of public platforms, McCain advances an uneasy combination of the two strands of thinking that have long been dominant among Republicans -- Reaganesque tax cuts that "supply-siders" claim will stimulate economic growth, along with old-school anti-New Deal positions opposing social spending and supporting a balanced federal government budget. It should not be surprising that McCain's approach is a mushy amalgam. McCain openly admitted in late 2007 that "the issue of economics is not something I've understood as well as I should." This is true, despite the fact that he has been a member of Congress for 26 years and a two-time presidential candidate.

Obama and Hillary Clinton are increasingly advancing an agenda focused on job creation, affordable health care, greater equity in the tax code, limits on free trade, and combining economic growth with environmental protection -- so-called "green growth." These are certainly desirable goals.

But we must keep in mind that Bill Clinton advanced similar goals in 1992, under his economic program of "Putting People First." Yet Clinton's economic program changed drastically even during the two-month interregnum between his November election and his inauguration in January 1993. During this time, Clinton decided that the first priority of his administration would be to serve the interests of Wall Street. The Clinton years were defined by across-the-board reductions in government spending as a share of the economy's total spending, virtually unqualified enthusiasm for free trade, tepid and inconsistent efforts to assist working people in labor markets, and the deregulation of financial markets.

Bill Clinton even conceded during the period before his inauguration that with his new policy focus, "we help the bond market and we hurt the people who voted us in." Either Hillary Clinton or Barack Obama could easily fall into this same trap if they aren't faced with intense pressure from progressive forces to maintain their campaign commitments. Such as concern was certainly underscored by the reports of Goolsbe's comments to the Canadians on NAFTA.

We get some insights into the likely economic policy approaches of McCain, Clinton and Obama -- probably more than by reading their respective platforms -- by considering whom they are listening to now, and who would be likely to serve as high-level advisers in a McCain, Clinton, or Obama White House.

McCain has said he will call on people like Pete Peterson and Jack Kemp. Peterson is a billionaire Wall Street investor and a former Commerce Secretary under Richard Nixon. He has long favored cutting deeply into Social Security, Medicare, and other welfare-state policies as a means of maintaining balanced federal government budgets. Not surprisingly, Peterson also believes that Wall Street titans like himself should continue to enjoy lower tax rates than teachers, firefighters, nurses, and waitresses.

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Robert Pollin is professor of economics and co-director of the Political Economy Research Institute (PERI) at the University of Massachusetts.