Bobby Jindal uses up his annual allotment of stupid ideas in one fell swoop.   (Link courtesy of Paul Krugman.)

Jared Bernstein with his usual clear-eyed analysis and intelligent policy recommendations.  Shorter version:  Stop fixating on the debt and focus on increasing employment:

The first thing to do is keep applying the accelerator on pro-growth policies that strengthen near-term demand and labor quality, including paycheck supports (like the payroll tax break), training for unemployed workers and investment in bridges, tunnels and other infrastructure. Over the longer term, we might want to think of immigration reform as a way to counteract our decelerating work force.

For now, though, we’re into a negative loop where persistently weak demand is chipping away at the labor and capital supply and productivity advances needed to increase our potential growth rate. Supply-side, deregulatory zeal has deprived the economy of investments in infrastructure and other public goods, innovative research and the oversight necessary to prevent the shampoo cycles — bubble, bust, repeat — that are whacking away at our potential growth rates.

This can all be corrected, but we’ve got to stop setting fiscal traps for ourselves and squabbling about a few points on the marginal tax rate. Instead, let’s start taking the steps that can get this economy back up to speed.