Krugman on the Deficit

Paul Krugman's column in the NY Times today is worth reading--even if, naturally, I disagree with a lot of it. (Reprinted by Brad DeLong.) I interpret Paul as being in the left-realpolitik camp on economic policy. He seems to be saying the following:

Democrats shouldn't worry too much about the budget deficit. Yes, ideally it would be smaller, but given political reality, deficit reduction should not be the first priority. Any attempt to reduce the deficit will only end up giving the other party more opportunity to pursue unjustifiable tax cuts. The best way to help the American people would be to worry later about the looming fiscal gap and focus now on desirable spending increases.

I know some policy wonks from the right-realpolitik camp on economic policy with a similar view:

Republicans shouldn't worry too much about the budget deficit. Yes, ideally it would be smaller, but given political reality, deficit reduction should not be the first priority. Any attempt to reduce the deficit will only end up giving the other party more opportunity to pursue unjustifiable spending increases. The best way to help the American people would be to worry later about the looming fiscal gap and focus now on desirable tax cuts.

Alberto Alesina and Allan Drazen once modelled this phenomenon as a war of attrition.

If Paul and his conservative counterparts get their way, then at least for now we won't see a grand bargain between the parties of the sort I described in this WSJ op-ed earlier in the year. Maybe I was just dreaming.