Poor Brad DeLong

Über Keynesian Bradley DeLong seems pretty unhappy in this Bloggingheads.tv diavlog, just as he does in his blog posts. In this clip he gratuitously slams liberaltarian Brink Lindsey for not being an economist and spouting economic opinions, as if he would apply this qualification to anyone who agrees with his assumptions (eg, Obama, Matt Yglesias, Ezra Klein), or that macroeconomists have demonstrated any reason for deference on these matters:



When I'm this grumpy I try to not to talk or write to people because I'm not effective at getting what I want. He's clearly in funk, perhaps because he wasn't invited to join the Obama administration in some major capacity, though with this performance he's just proving why that was a good move.

I'm generally pessimistic on the USA because our deficit is still unsustainable and regulations are only increasing, but I must say all this anger on the Left is making me feel better. Here's Kieth Olbermann telling his audience to get mad (clip starts at 8:41 so you get the key riff):



And then there was last weekend's 'Tea Partiers are terrorist' talking point, and Elizabeth Warren's angry exit. Anger is a sign of frustration, and signifies no greater wisdom or righteousness than when my 4 year old gets ticked off (no juice!). Perhaps the proponents of government growth feel they are losing because they really are? Perhaps they see that when legislators disappoint them the answer is not to get new ones, rather to reduce the size of government so these people don't have so much power?

I doubt it. I just think the second derivative on Federal spending has finally changed signs, and so in their minds the future will never seem as good as it did in 2008.