David Brooks' pants on fire (5/5/15)

Just came across this from Mark Thoma (which also indicates how deep is the propaganda; his example: David Brooks, Republican "nice guy" turns out to be a [surprise!] big fat liar):

Supply-Side Social Insurance

I have a new column:

Supply-Side Social Insurance: David Brooks’ claim that “the federal government spent nearly $14,000 per poor person” in 2013 and his claim that “over the last 30 years the poverty rate has scarcely changed” have both been thoroughly debunked. The responses show very clearly that spending is nowhere near as large as Brooks claims, and that using a measure of poverty that overcomes some of the problems with the standard measure shows a decline in the poverty rate, though the decline has been slower than we’d prefer. ...

Even if the number had been calculated correctly, it would overstate the true cost of social insurance programs due to the failure to consider “dynamic effects.” That is, these programs don’t just provide income to struggling households in times of need, income that can have a valuable stimulative effect during economic downturns; social insurance programs are also an investment in our future. ...

Not sure why "Doesn't Work" was added to the title -- my point is that it does, if only Republicans would support it.