Fiscal Sins of America's Political Parties

Whenever I go through analytical pieces and summaries of the state of the US economy, I never fail to notice the stated assumption that main difference between its two political parties is that one party is a better economic manager given to prudence with public finances. And quite unfortunately the majority of blog seem to proceed on this premise and often add to that the view that president Obama's administration is a huge spender of public funds like other administrations led by Democratic Party presidents.

I always muse to myself that as a grown up, the sharp distinction between the two parties is one that only partisans of one side or the other want to believe. And that is why I see this very informative and well-argued piece by David Stockman about the contributions of the Republican party in the fiscal mess that the US finds itself in today. I am reluctant to summarize it because the piece is worthy of careful study but its main idea is that too much expenditure is an equal opportunity error by both parties. In addition, the main assumption of the Supply side arguments of the Reagan administration seem to be catching up with the US as the tax cut fetish alone does not pay for itself as is argued simplistically.   

Of the four points that he makes, I disagree with the assertion that the suspension of the Gold Standard made inflation and too much expenditure inevitable. This point requires some contesting because there's no evidence for it in his illuminating piece.