Sununu and Van Ostren: plastic men with no clue about economics

Van Ostren is worse than Sununu, but neither gets it. They both talk about “investing” in their own pet projects. They are not investments. They are consumption spending by bureaucrats to buy votes for the next sacrament season.

At least Van Ostren is honest about his ignorance: he repeats the tired myths to promote minimum wage laws, unionism, and government-managed health care. Sununu in some sense is worse: he calls his spending programs “public-private partnerships.” This is called corporatism and ends up being a game for the politically connected to use government power to mulct wealth from the hapless taxpayer. It is absolutely not the free market.

Van Ostren is more honest in another way. He at least talks about increasing government spending and raising taxes. Sununu talks about government spending but makes no mention of the payment method. Neither talks about cutting the budget.

Conclusion: both men are caricatures of their parties. Van Ostren probably wants to tax and spend far more than Sununu, but both think they know how to run our lives. Government is bureaucracy, not a business. We are taxpayers, not willing customers.

Neither of these candidates will promote liberty. Maybe one day they'll read something helpful.