Like the classic comedy team of Abbott and Costello in their famous “Who’s on First” routine, Barack Obama and Joe Biden now are talking past one another when discussing economic and tax policy.

Joe Biden was on the “Today Show” this morning. at 1:31 of the following clip comes this exchange:

Meredith: Meanwhile Senator, you and Senator Obama are calling for increased taxes on the wealthy and there are many economists who say that would hurt the economy even more….
Biden: I don’t know any economists who are saying that!

Yesterday, Barack Obama said the McCain was living in denial over the economic challenges. If that’s true, than Biden is living in ignorance! Joe, can I give you just one, of the many I could find with about 1 minute of Google search, of the economists who say tax increases are bad…especially in a down economy; J.D. Foster, Ph.D. The summary paragraph from this paper:

The evidence is persuasive that the tax increase probably slowed the economy compared to the growth it would have achieved and that the subsequent tax cuts of 1997, not the tax increases, were the source of the acceleration in real growth in the latter half of the decade. As taxes are now above their historical average as a share of the economy, and are rising, Congress should look to enact additional tax relief to keep the economy strong.

Geez Joe, no economists? Not even you can be that naive, can you? Worse yet Joe, the man you’re running with understands the very concept that you say “No economists” agree on. As I showed you here, even Barack Obama is backing off of his tax increase plans due to the weak economy:
When Barack Obama was asked:

What about increasing taxes on the wealthy?

Obama replied:

“I think we’ve got to take a look and see where the economy is. I mean, the economy is weak right now,” Obama said on “This Week” on ABC. “The news with Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae, I think, along with the unemployment numbers, indicates that we’re fragile.”

With Obama and Biden we don’t know “Who’s on first” or “What’s on second.” It’s obvious though that “I don’t know” is running for VP!

From Barack Obama’s speech, yesterday in Grand Junction, CO

It’s not that I think John McCain doesn’t care what’s going on in the lives of most Americans. I just think doesn’t know. He doesn’t get what’s happening between the mountain in Sedona where he lives and the corridors of Washington where he works. Why else would he say that we’ve made great progress economically under George Bush? Why else would he say that the economy isn’t something he understands as well as he should? Why else would he say, today, of all days – just a few hours ago – that the fundamentals of the economy are still strong?

After chiding McCain for his lack of sympathy and pathos for the “Average American,” Barack Obama stepped off the stage now equipped with his traveling telepromter, and headed to Beverly Hills! In Beverly Hills, Barack Obama will hold a fundraiser where the entry fee is $28,500 PER PLATE!

Nothing says “Average America” like Beverly Hills!

Two weeks ago, the Republican convention was in a tizzy about appearing too happy and enthusiastic while hurricane Gustav went through New Orleans. There was concern that if the Republicans appeared giddy while folks were hurting in New Orleans it would be seen as uncaring and out of touch with the realities of the Nation. There was a lot of discussion, especially amongst pundits, about whether the Republicans really needed to “tone it down.” In fact, was at least one very opinionated local pundit and occasional radio personality who called another respected pundit “stupid” when the latter suggested that giving up a whole day of the convention was unnecessary.

Republicans were worried about how they looked if they kept their convention going in the face of possible harm to American families. They were so worried that they used part of their convention activities to raise funds for those impacted by Gustav. Apparently, that same thought has not occurred to Barack Obama.

In the modified words of Telly Savalas, “Who REALLY loves you baby?”

Over at the HuffandPuff Post, Nancy Pelosi has this headline up on her blog:

Denial is Not An Economic Recovery Plan

(by the way, before we go any further, isn’t Nancy one of those who was attempting to shut down House members posting on blog sites? Anyone up for leading by example?)
I won’t bore you with much of her blog other than to tell you that her topic was the continual unwinding of excess credit in the financial markets which was most recently manifested by the bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers and the purchase of Merrill Lynch.

Nancy tries to use a series of quotes by President Bush and John McCain.   Quotes where if she used them in context, she would find them expressing concern about current situations and them expressing their ongoing optimism that the US economy remains on fundamental underpinnings.   She wraps these around the line that has become her mantra since becoming Speaker:

President Bush, Senator McCain, and their Republican Party are out of touch…

(then she ties it to her lament of the day)

and apparently ill-equipped to get our economy back on track.

As has become her practice, Pelosi avoids any responsibility Congress has in this issue and continues to blame all of society’s ills on President Bush, and now by association, John McCain:

Eight years of weakened regulation of our nation’s financial system — including a failure to regulate risky, and often predatory, lending practices — by the Bush administration and Republicans in Congress have led us to this point, and could further erode our nation’s economic health.

As she moved to head the “Do Nothing Congress,” Nancy told the world that she was now in charge when she said “it takes a woman to clean the House.” That was nearly two years ago.  I guess what Nancy is really saying is that while Buuuuuuuuuush has worked to tear down the nation for eight years, she has been completely incapable of catching up with the person Nancy would describe as the linguistically challenged frat boy. How smart does that make you Nancy?

For the past two years Nancy has become the greatest Monday morning quaterback since the guy who said “knew it all along,” the day after SuperBowl III. Nancy knows that Buuuuuuuuuush created the energy shortage to make incredible profits for the oil companies. Nancy knows that Buuuuuuuuuush created the housing mortgage problem. Nancy knows that Buuuuuuuuush allowed Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae to issue millions and millions of risky loans. Nancy knows that Buuuuuuuuuush has now allowed several large, venerable Wall Street firms to either implode or be bought on the verge of implosion. And, Nancy knows that Buuuuuuuuush should have been stepping up regulation in all of these areas.

Now, before you jump up and down about all the things the government coulda, shoulda, woulda done to avoid our current issues, I’ll say 1. I agree with that, 2. Remember, the FED is not controlled by the administration, 3. Remember your Constitution, Congress has oversight responsibility.

If Nancy knew all the things that Buuuuuuuuush was doing on the day events ocurred, if she’s really that smart, why didn’t she see it coming? If Nancy is so smart, why hasn’t her House passed one bill in two years, dealing with any of these issues until AFTER they occurred?

The only denial I see, if you believe Nancy Pelosi’s view of the world, is that the President she called “a total failure” has managed to out smart her every step of the way and setting her up to head the Congress with the lowest approval level ever!   Who’s a “total Failure” now Nancy?

If you put politics aside, which is what Nancy should have done but is completely incapable of doing under any circumstance, we would say that we have seen once again why a “little” government is nearly as bad as a “lot of” government. Government, outside of the military, has never been good at anything but reacting. Unfortunately, the “good” that government could do in the current situation is to do nothing and let the markets settle themselves out. Also unfortunately, I doubt that is what they will end up doing.