Eulogies for Lawrence Lindsay

Lawrence Lindsay, the newly-departed economic adviser, received favorable eulogies left and right. Brad DeLong writes,

So Larry lost in his attempt to get the 2001 tax cut to reduce marginal tax rates where they are highest--among the two-children-$25,000-annual-household-income class...He lost his fight to keep the White House from imposing steel tariffs. He lost his fight to maintain the progress toward freeing trade in farm products and reducing welfare-for-agribusiness

James Pinkerton writes,

The Washington Post reported on Saturday that Bush decided to get rid of Lindsey after the economist told The Wall Street Journal in mid-September that a war with Iraq could cost as much as $200 billion. "That made it clear Larry just didn't get it," one official told the Post. One might ask: "Didn't get what?" Since when do wars—and the nation building, rebuilding, that must follow—come cheap?

For what it's worth, William Nordhaus has estimates of the cost of war that make Lindsay's seem conservative.