Former Michigan governor Jennifer Granholm argues that austerity has called the bluff of small-government supporters:
Austerity cuts at the state and local levels have cost over 600,000 jobs, as spending has dropped nine out of the last ten quarters. Bloomberg points out that the public sector has lost more jobs in the past three years than any other, and total government employment has reached levels not seen since the 1960s. Unemployment would be a full point lower had this not happened.
But Granholm overlooks the sizable swaths of the American public willing to tolerate the consequences of “small government”. Monica Potts flags an example:
The biggest experiment in gutting local government came from Colorado Springs in 2010. The previous fall, voters had rejected a plan to raise their own taxes to cover a shortfall in revenues. Local officials then warned that they’d have to end certain services, like neighborhood community centers, park maintenance, and streetlights. Undeterred, local residents decided to chip in to clean up in local parks, and, ultimately, the city decided to privatize some services.
This desire for “small government” bears out the polls, notes Jared Bernstein – but with a pretty big caveat:
[A]s you’d expect, significant majorities of both Republicans and Independents say they support a smaller government that does less, which is a fair description of the Republican platform and is embodied in their budget proposals…. When you ask a slightly more nuanced question about whether certain goods and services would be available to ordinary people absent government intervention—a question that hints at the role of government amidst market failure—two-thirds of respondents, including 55% of Republicans, 70% of religious Republicans, and even 30% of Tea Partiers agree.
And Bernstein, “as a member as the President’s economics team during the implementation of the Recovery Act,” recalls:
If you asked people about the Recovery Act, you’d find that most thought it was a waste. But component parts of the bill like expanded unemployment benefits, health insurance, infrastructure, rail, and tax cuts polled in the 60-80+ percent approval range.
The Dish 