In a response to my Pioneer Press column of July 17, Dave Mindeman on the mnpACT! blog falls into the partisan trap with the “so what” argument that figures don’t lie and the choice facing legislators is tax increases or unallotment and clearly Stinson’s research clearly shows unallotment is bad. To give Mr. Mindeman credit, in between insults he makes the Keynesian economic argument, but he ignores the point of my column, or more accurately, disrespects the idea of reform – an interesting position for a “progressive.” He more or less denies the concept of tradeoffs, or at best he minimizes it. So, let’s look at the Keynesian argument and the tradeoffs it entails.

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