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Hey Arkansas, Are You Voting for This Guy Next Week?

Gary Latanich Says The Debt Isnt The Issue, Full Employment Is The IssueDemocrat Congressional Candidate Gary Latanich
(Image courtesy: Gary Latanich.com)

During an interview with KASU’s Johnathan Reaves, Gary Latanich, a Democrat running for Congress in Arkansas, offered the following advice [paraphrased]: Stop focusing on the national debt. It’s counterproductive. We need to worry about full employment and tax collections and then we can look at deficits and debt.

That was in February. But even though it’s months old, it’s worth a flashback since the Arkansas primary is just days away. In fact, Glenn Beck got such a kick out of Latanich’s past answers to economic question he deiced to to play them this morning.

“The economy, obviously, is in very bad shape and the polices that the Republicans would like us to pursue are only going to make the economy worse. It’s basically going to turn us into the next Greece,” the Arkansas State University economics professor said when explaining why he was running.

Reaves asked the Democrat candidate what he would do to address America’s looming “debt issue.”

“The debt is a difficult subject. Republicans have framed it as ‘the debt is bad.’ And they’re really misunderstanding the entire concept,” Latanich responded.

He continued:

Debt it one side, assets is the other. The size of the debt is not the problem for us in the short run. During World War II, debt-to-GDP ratios grew much higher and the level of government spending is what took us out of the depression. Today, we’re worrying too prematurely about debt.

We need to get the economy back to full employment and then look at the size of the debt when we have tax collections and at that point decide if there needs to be a long-run change in deficits and deficit reduction. But in the short run, deficits and debt should not be our focus. It’s misguided and counterproductive.

How does Latanich think we should address this issue?

“The best way to address the debt now is to figure out ways to stimulate product demand. Companies are sitting on two trillion dollars in profits. But profits aren’t what drives the economy. It doesn’t drive employment. Employment is driven by product demand. As long as companies don’t see more demand, they won’t hire,” the candidate responded.

“As long as more money is put in the economy and there is more demand, that’s what’s going to move us out of the recession. And when the last person goes to work, that’s when we look at the size of the debt and say ‘Okay, what is the trend path we’re on? Is it sustainable?’ At that point we look at debt but not sooner,” he added.

What’s his approach to unemployment? Easy: put the unemployed to work on government infrastructure projects! If you do this, then the economy will expand and companies will eventually start hiring again.

“The government can do this. We have the funds. It’s just a matter of political will,” he said.

Click here to listen to Latanich’s take on high gas prices (subsidize “green” energy), “Obamacare” (“a wonderful piece of legislation”), education, and more.

Front page photo source: Blytheville Courier News

Comments (38)

  • Clubber1
    Posted on May 18, 2012 at 3:01pm

    He would be correct if he said to put welfare recipients on infrastructure projects, and make their working a condition of recieving the money. That would at least improve our society by getting the projects done and giving people who now have no sense of worth or work ethic a taste of pride of ownership and maybe a skill to take with them when they go. It has been done before they called it the “Civilian Conservation Corps” and in my state the stonework those men did is still standing 75 years later.

    Report Post »  
  • mike057
    Posted on May 18, 2012 at 11:41am

    Typical Democrat politician. This guy is/was teaching kids economics? Idiot.

    Report Post » mike057  
  • Crush_Liberalism
    Posted on May 18, 2012 at 11:41am

    Oh…MY…Word…This is what is WRONG with professors. They don;t know that the h3ll they are talking about!!!! Utter tool……..

    Report Post » Crush_Liberalism  
  • TSUNAMI-22
    Posted on May 18, 2012 at 10:58am

    This guy should apply for a job at U.C. Berkeley. He’d fit right in with Kalifornia.

    Report Post »  
  • grayhaired vet
    Posted on May 18, 2012 at 10:46am

    The most salient phrase in this entire article, is the one that reads, “ECONOMICS PROFESSOR. FROM THE UNIVERSITY OF ARKANSAS.” Hasn’t our recent (and long term for that fact) experience taught us anything about electing academics to important leadership positions? (B. Obama, Woodrow Wilson) If you want to know how something is supposed to work, ask an academic, but if you’re looking for someone to actually get the job done, look elsewhere.

    Report Post »  
  • DGSTRACK
    Posted on May 18, 2012 at 9:39am

    What a fool. Know how to get businesses to put those profits back into the economy? Reduce the government burden and idiotic regulations so that they can make more profits with their money. Then they create jobs, then more people create demand. The absolute worst thing you can do to “fix” the economy is create more government jobs which create nothing but more draw on an already strained economy. The deficit is the VERY FIRST thing that should be tackled… by shedding government waste and jobs starting with the EPA and the Dept of Education. Then, you open up our national resources so that our own businesses can start responsibly making our own oil, pulling our own coal, thereby creating some needed jobs and reducing our dependence on unfriendly nations. You make it easier for businesses to get started, and you encourage it by just getting out of the way. Finally switch to a simple tax policy where EVERYONE pays the same percent, and that percent is low enough that EVERYONE spends more, invests more and otherwise contributes to the economy… Then, as the economy grows, tax revenues grow (yes, even with a flat tax where everyone pays!)… You put that money to pay off the debt. Know what the government is doing while the economy is repairing ITSELF??? It’s cutting out dead wood, reducing waste further and finding more ways to make us energy independent and not so reliant on outside countries for our food and goods that we can manufacture RIGHT HERE… creating MORE jobs.

    Report Post » DGSTRACK  
  • M24
    Posted on May 18, 2012 at 5:57am

    What A Asz Hole Spoken like A True Idiot Democrat

    Report Post »  
  • paperpushermj
    Posted on May 18, 2012 at 1:18am

    What’s his approach to unemployment? Easy: put the unemployed to work on government infrastructure projects! If you do this, then the economy will expand and companies will eventually start hiring again.
    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~. Brilliant plan although I do see just a small problem.
    Were Broke!
    We spend around 1+ Trillion more then we generate in Revenue.
    We barrow about 40 cents of every dollar spent.
    How about this… Support Romney for President. Two seconds after he is sworn in he tells the Energy Sector Go for it. Finders keepers …All Federal Lands are open for exploration. He will tell American Enterprise he wants them to take the money out of the bank and start growing with a helpful federal Government plowing the field before them to get them involved in pumping the economy. They have a friend now in the White House ….so get going. Business is open again in this Country

    Report Post » paperpushermj  
    • Obama_Sham
      Posted on May 18, 2012 at 7:10am

      I don’t think those that are unemployed should be doing government infrastructure jobs… How about those that are on the government entitlement train (welfare, stamps, etc.) do government infrastructure jobs? If we are going to pay their way through life, we might as well get something useful out of them…

      Report Post » Obama_Sham  
  • GingersWorld
    Posted on May 18, 2012 at 12:56am

    Wow. This guy has got to be the most gung-ho Keynesian socialist economics professor I’ve ever heard.

    On another note, this article needs a new proof-reader.

    Report Post » GingersWorld  
  • lukerw
    Posted on May 18, 2012 at 12:25am

    Economics according to Forrest Gump: Demand for Products drives Employment… not Competition, Corporations, nor Profits! In fact, under Communism… this is almost true, but really the State drives Employment!

    Report Post » lukerw  
  • billjac
    Posted on May 17, 2012 at 9:36pm

    What’s the gray thing on his head?

    Report Post »  
  • Wolfgang the Gray
    Posted on May 17, 2012 at 8:49pm

    Try explaining how debt is good to the IRS when you don’t pay your taxes. This country is upside down and all the nuts are falling from the trees and landing straight in the government.

    Report Post » Wolfgang the Gray  
    • pscully17
      Posted on May 18, 2012 at 12:56am

      So while your paying the new government help, to build a ten year bridge, that should have taken 4 months, with money hour print, which then gets devalued, and when they do start buying products and services, they will cost 20 percent more for inflation, and the unskilled labor, will be doing jobs that require detailed training, and it all collapses, then where are we? Not to mention the Rich people losing investment capital due to higher taxes, you will be sucking the life right out of the economy.

      Report Post »  
  • mr.goodvibe
    Posted on May 17, 2012 at 7:54pm

    He seems like such a cute litlle hobbit but with the common sense of an ork.

    Report Post » mr.goodvibe  
  • brgen
    Posted on May 17, 2012 at 7:51pm

    I am also a voter in Arkansas who keeps up with candidates… or so I thought. I heard this man on Glenn Beck this morning, and when I came home I looked in my Arkansas Voters Guide to get some idea of how this man thinks. He refused to complete the survey for the voters guide, no shocker there. But what scares me… is that his occupation is listed. It states that his occupation is “Economic Professor at ASU…. HOW? you tell me.

    Report Post »  
    • MAMMY_NUNN
      Posted on May 17, 2012 at 8:02pm

      Professor is a clue we have enough already in the administration.
      Looks good on paper so it must work.

      Report Post »  
    • jhaydeng
      Posted on May 17, 2012 at 9:14pm

      Razorbacks better get out of the clouds!

      Report Post »  
    • Ohello
      Posted on May 17, 2012 at 11:45pm

      Razorbacks…. Aren’t they some type of pig? Didn’t the pigs end up running the Animal Farm? or were they the ones that got overthrown, and replaced with communist dogs?

      Report Post »  
  • The Third Archon
    Posted on May 17, 2012 at 7:48pm

    Awesome–someone intelligent who has actually studied economics, rather than just adopt popular rhetoric of lay-“experts”; and as a result, he will probably NEVER hold Congressional office.

    Report Post » The Third Archon  
  • ALL4FREEDOM
    Posted on May 17, 2012 at 7:32pm

    The guy doesn’t understand economics! He’s saying demand (consumption) drives the economy. No, it doesn’t. PRODUCTION drives the economy. One has to produce before one can consume. If you’re going to eat an apple, you have to pick it (buy it, grow it) before you can eat it. Wealth is created by ambitious people creating more of something than they need so they can trade it or sell it to someone else who has “overproduced”, and becomes a willing partner in the transaction. It goes on and on, like a chain reaction. This is called ‘capitalism’. Pity this ‘economist’ has never heard of it.

    Report Post »  
    • MAMMY_NUNN
      Posted on May 17, 2012 at 7:58pm

      Infrastructure takes tax dollars and in order to get tax dollars you need a job !
      He’s a moron

      Report Post »  
    • The Third Archon
      Posted on May 18, 2012 at 1:12am

      And what motivates you to produce that apple in the first place? Answer–demand. Without demand, there IS no supply, without supply there is still (unfulfilled) demand. Demand is WHY the economy exists, to fulfill that demand. Consumption IS demand. Demand leads, and supply follows in response to the forces of consumer demand. Consumers do adjust, as a matter of practicality, their consumption on the basis of the supply available, but it is their demand that drives them to consume in the first place, and whether or not demand is fulfilled, it remains nevertheless, seeking a way to fulfill itself, creating supply where necessary and possible.

      Report Post » The Third Archon  
    • Biker Patriot
      Posted on May 18, 2012 at 9:30am

      THIRD ARCHON….Cleary you like Communists you describe it so well…Plenty of DEMAND with no SUPPLY…If supply is not FREE to out pace demand you have NO GROWTH.

      Report Post »  
  • Tigress1
    Posted on May 17, 2012 at 6:40pm

    This guy has totally drunk the Obama Kool-Aid. We need more infrastructure projects? Well, what does he think the “Stimulus” Bill was for? Researching erectile dysfunction in fat, middle-aged men? This guy thinks we need more products to stimulate demand? Gee, how nice! All those unemployed, broke people can go buy stuff and go into debt themselves! Haven’t we already dealt with this problem one time before? Bozo here wants to do it again!

    Report Post » Tigress1  
  • bankerpapaw
    Posted on May 17, 2012 at 6:22pm

    I live in Arkansas and I never heard of this guy. He must have crawled out of the same obscure hole
    Obama did.

    Report Post »  
  • inferno
    Posted on May 17, 2012 at 6:18pm

    If he believes in a single payor health care system, he is as scary as Obama. Obama said a long time ago, he hopes to see a single payor (government) healthcare system, but it will take time, If companies and institutions of learning continue dropping their health coverage, it will not take
    long at all. At some point, the government will control everyones health care. Private health insurance companies will go the way of the Dodo bird.

    Report Post »  
  • heavyduty
    Posted on May 17, 2012 at 5:58pm

    Why NOT!!!! They had CLINTON for governor. From what I heard is that Arkansas voted for CLINTON for President to get him out of the state.

    Report Post »  
  • damnedifwedont
    Posted on May 17, 2012 at 5:40pm

    Oh,my Good Lord!!! They just don’t GET US!!!!
    LOL,thanks to Jojo biden.

    Report Post »  
  • Mutiny
    Posted on May 17, 2012 at 5:40pm

    So Democrat Congressional Candidate Gary Latanich thinks the debt and deficits are not to be worried with. Funny thing is neither does our president or the guy the GOP want to put up against him.

    Romney endorses Obama’s spending by putting out a budget that doesnt cut current spending levels.

    Report Post » Mutiny  
  • Girl Named Sue
    Posted on May 17, 2012 at 5:33pm

    Never hear of the dude. And I’m a clued in Arkansan.

    Report Post »  

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