But the members of the Stanford and Harvard Economics Departments whom he quotes in today's column should just be ashamed of themselves.

Brooks has joined the crusade of "serious" people who are actively promoting fiscal austerity in the face of stable prices and 10% unemployment. Because studies by various conservative hired guns from these same economics departments show that, in the 1990's the US economy grew while fiscal policy created a surplus. Plus, in the 1980's Ireland and somewhere else had a similar experience.

Wonks Anonymous wonders where Mr. Brooks was when GW Bush and Alan Greenspan were preaching tax cuts and deficits in 2000 but let that pass.

The fact is that in the 1990s, before deficit reduction measures came into play, a large investment boom had already begun to get up steam. In these circumstances Bill Clinton did the right thing by creating a surplus which freed up funds for private investors. Likewise, in the 1980's Ireland and other nations could rely on the glorious US Supply Side budget deficits to fuel demand in their own economies. In the meantime the US manufacturing economy was going down the toilet because of these same deficits.

One would expect an opportunistic political hack, like Brooks, to get this wrong. The economists should know better. In particular Robert Hall, who argued in the 1990's editions of his Macro text that deficits do not matter, should at least try to be consistent.