Friday, May 08, 2009

Raymond J. Saulnier, RIP

Read the obituary of Raymond Saulnier, in today's NYT--less than a week after Jack Kemp's--and you get a sense how radical the new "conservatism" is compared to the, well, conservative canons of the old.

Saulnier was Ike's inside money man. He played an important role in professionalizing and systematizing the flow of economic/financial information to the Oval Office. But he was as policy man as well, and in this role, he didn't seem to mind being thought something of a sorehead --one suspects he rather reveled in it: if so many people disliked him, he must be doing something right.

We can associate him with two Grand Old (and long since abandoned) Republican first principles: one, balanced budgets. And two, people--especially Republicans--should pay their bills. Which meant taxes, even (perhaps especially) if they hurt. For if they didn't hurt, we probably weren't paying what what we should. Anyway (one couldn't help but suspect) he thought that a little hurt was good for the moral fiber.

Saulnier, who remained intellectually involved until the end of his life, lamented loose financing policies that led us into the current mess. He also said he wished he had spoken out more sharply against loosening financial regulation, years ago when his voice might have helped.

I've always thought that the balanced-budget mantra can get pretty simplistic, not least in the hands of some of its more excitable defenders--don't they understand the concept of asset-for-asset accounting? But I think it's fair to say that Saulnier was always a good deal more sophisticated in his advocacy than some of the lesser lights. On taxes--it would be fun to know whether Saulnier and Kemp ever met, and if so, what they said to each other.

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