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Greg Mankiw almost solves the deficit problem

He’s a genius:

I have a plan to reduce the budget deficit.  The essence of the plan is the federal government writing me a check for $1 billion.  The plan will be financed by $3 billion of tax increases.  According to my back-of-the envelope calculations, giving me that $1 billion will reduce the budget deficit by $2 billion.

Now, you may be tempted to say that giving me that $1 billion will not really reduce the budget deficit.  Rather, you might say, it is the tax increases, which have nothing to do with my handout, that are reducing the budget deficit.  But if you are tempted by that kind of sloppy thinking, you have not been following the debate over healthcare reform.

Read the rest of it.

Greg’s only mistake is only asking for $1 billion. I have a better plan. Give me $100 billion and raise taxes by $300 billion. My plan is 100 times better.

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