Senate ads misplace blame for fiscal crisis

The Portland Press Herald interviewed David Aschauer, the College’s Elmer Campbell Professor of Economics, to gauge the accuracy of political advertisements being rolled out during Maine’s U.S. Senate race between Rep. Tom Allen, a Democrat, and Sen. Susan Collins, the Republican incumbent. Allen’s ads tried to pin blame on Republicans like Collins for the financial crisis but Aschauer didn’t buy the connection. He cited legislation signed during the Clinton administration that allowed banks to take greater risks. “It’s not balanced to say that it’s just Bush,” Aschauer said. [More…]