Biden Should . . .

The Washington Post Magazine for this past weekend had a cover story on “Biden Should . . .”, with various pundits of various sorts offering their suggestions. I approved of a few proposals, found others at least interesting, and definitely opposed some. I did notice that while some explicitly or implicitly called for more federal spending and action, no one suggested that President Biden should take action, work with Congress, and educate the public to bring the budget into balance, or at least somewhere close to it, and begin addressing the huge national debt.

He could remind Democrats that the Trump Administration is to blame for a large part of the accumulated debt, and remind Republicans that they used to be the party of fiscal responsibility. Our current trajectory is not sustainable.

Unfortunately, so long as the (largely erroneous, I believe) idea that deficits stimulate the economy is widely held, and so long as the deficit does not cause immediate pain, most people are not interested in addressing the problem.

A Fond Farewell

The other day, departing Undersecretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property and Director of the Patent and Trademark Office Andrei Iancu sent us an email wishing us all a fond farewell. With a new Administration in office, he, as a political appointee, is departing.

And a fond farewell to him. Although I am not an admirer of the president who nominated him, Mr. Iancu did his job capably and honorably, so far as I am aware. I will, however, be glad to see Secretary Wilbur Ross out of public office.