Greg Mankiw has always been a Never Trumper:
I just came back from city hall, where I switched my voter registration from Republican to unenrolled (aka independent). Two reasons: First, the Republican Party has largely become the Party of Trump. Too many Republicans in Congress are willing, in the interest of protecting their jobs, to overlook Trump’s misdeeds (just as too many Democrats were for Clinton during his impeachment). I have no interest in associating myself with that behavior. Maybe someday, the party will return to having honorable leaders like Bush, McCain, and Romney. Until then, count me out. Second, in Massachusetts, unenrolled voters can vote in either primary. The Democratic Party is at a crossroads, where it has to choose either a center-left candidate (Biden, Buttigieg, Klobuchar, Yang) or a far-left populist (Warren, Sanders) as their nominee for president. I intend to help them choose the former. The latter propose to move the country too far in the direction of heavy-handed state control. And in doing so, they tempt those in the center and center-right to hold their noses and vote for Trump’s reelection.
In a way I get this and a lot of other centrist Republicans are saying similar things. Enter Michael Bloomberg:
Michael Bloomberg is taking steps to enter the 2020 Democratic presidential campaign, a person familiar with his plans tells CBS News. Bloomberg, 77, has dispatched aides to Alabama to file paperwork in the state to run as a Democrat. The Cotton State doesn’t hold an early Democratic presidential primary, but has the earliest filing deadline for the presidential campaign. Taking steps to file paperwork is the most serious signal yet that the former New York mayor and billionaire is seriously planning for a White House run. Howard Wolfson, a longtime Bloomberg adviser, said in a statement that Bloomberg “is increasingly concerned that the current field of candidates is not well positioned” to defeat President Trump.
I guess Bloomberg thinks Biden, Buttigieg, Klobuchar, and Yang are way too liberal for his America. Hey Never Trumpers – more tax cuts for rich people! Now of course, we need to pay for all of this and something tells me that proposals to slash Social Security and Federal health care payments are not exactly going to win the Bloomberg ticket a lot of votes. Oh wait – tax the little guy. Of course, Bloomberg has long proposed a soda tax. Let’s hope Mankiw convinces to go for a carbon tax instead. But addressing income inequality in a Bloomberg Administration? Not going to happen if the Mayor of Manhattan (mainly the Upper West Side and Upper East Side) becomes President!
And we should care what Greg Mankiw thinks . . . why?
He will be 79 when he takes office, if elected.
Next week I will observe my 84th birthday. I have experienced the indignities of old age. The decline of physical and mental capacities accelerates in the 70;s and goes into hyperdrive in the 80’s.
I don’t think it is a good idea to have another Alzheimer’s patient in the Oval Office.
I also don’t think it a good idea for the Democratic Party to nominate a Republican for president.
FWIW, yesterday I spammed the message below around to anyone who might be seeking a chink in Bloomberg’s armor.
In 1977, at the crest of New York City’s crime wave, a new $120 million (2016 dollars), courthouse was added in the Bronx — just down the hill from the still pristine but, by then, much over burdened 1939 courthouse.
Old courthouse
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Just for comparison, my like new, 1941 built, Cardinal Hayes High School, a ten minute walk south
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In 2004, after crime had waned 75%, Mayor Bloomberg opened a new-new $500 million courthouse across the street from the old-new courthouse. Bloomberg perpetrated the same financial extravagance in the same year in Brooklyn to the tune of $750 million.
Before posting old-new and new-new Bronx courthouse pictures I should get in my eighth-grade math take on Bloomberg’s stop-and-frisk swarm policing. Stops went up 7X under Bloomberg after crime had subsided 4X = 28 times as many stops per reported crimes.
Old-new
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New-new
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Pics may be viewed here:
https://ontodayspage.blogspot.com/2016/01/my-personal-south-bronx-plan-to-crush_26.html
Too old. I am 71 and all I can say about Mike is: OK Boomer.
Don’t think Mike would do much for black voter enthusiasm.
Matt Yglesias nails the case against a Bloomberg candidacy:
https://www.vox.com/2019/11/8/20955068/bloomberg-president-good-for-warren
Joel,
Check this out:
https://prospect.org/blogs/tap/ok-bloomberg/
What does it say about Mankiw’s ideology if he thinks Bidenand Buttigieg are Center-Left?
Procopius:
Please keep the same name when you comment. Thank you.
“I guess Bloomberg thinks Biden, Buttigieg, Klobuchar, and Yang are way too liberal for his America.” You GUESS?
It’s very pretentious of you to claim that you know what Bloomberg thinks.
Let’s have more facts in political discourse and less guessing.
Robert:
Welcome to Angry Bear. I am sure PGL will answer you.
FYI Robert – I live in NYC. And for that I had to endure 12 years of listening to what THE Bloomberg thinks. Now when he decides to endorse a wealth tax, I will note that over at Econospeak!
I, for one, am very interested in hearing what Bloomberg proposes for health care (hopefully universal). The status quo is clearly inadequate.
Robert – I too am interested in what he or any other candidate wants to do for health care policy. It should be universal but that does not mean it has to be Bernie’s plan. If Bloomberg comes out with a good plan – we should discuss and debate. But here’s the thing. Whatever the plan will be, economists should ask the question of how to pay for it. Yea Warren wants Bernie’s plan and yet avoids the question of how to pay for it, which is a serious problem for her. But if Bloomberg wants to push something more moderate but also universal, he will have to tackle the question of who to tax. And he has consistently evaded any sense that any tax increases on the rich is appropriate. We’ll see as this goes on.
PGL:
Economists should start asking the question of how much healthcare actually costs. We should not be arguing pricing till we know a cost.
Bloomberg back in 2012 on tax policy:
https://www.atr.org/michael-bloomberg-raising-taxes-rich-dumb-a7314
Michael Bloomberg: Raising taxes on the rich is “about as dumb a policy as I can think of.”
Maybe THE Bloomberg has changed his mind on this issue but if he still thinks any tax increase on the rich is dumb – he should not be the Democratic nominee.
I agree, if Bloomberg is unwilling to commit to raising taxes, he doesn’t have any credibility.
I don’t think that what he said about this in 2012 is relevant to the situation today.