Fifty Herbert Hoovers? Oh My God!

Paul Krugman in his latest NY Times op-ed, entitled "Fifty Herbert Hoovers", takes on the idiocy of US state laws which require balanced budgets, a marvelously anti-Keynesian action in the face of a recession:

An educated population is a national resource. Why, then, is basic education mainly paid for by local governments, which are forced to neglect the next generation every time the economy hits a rough patch?

And why should investments in infrastructure, which will serve the nation for decades, be at the mercy of short-run fluctuations in local budgets?

That’s for later. The priority right now is to fight off the attack of the 50 Herbert Hoovers, and make sure that the fiscal problems of the states don’t make the economic crisis even worse.