Conservatives vs Liberals

A conservative's someone it peeves
To pay taxes, because he believes
That they're soaking the rich
For entitlements, which
He somehow forgets he receives.

A liberal is fiercely intent
On the government's making a dent
In the plight of the poor,
At the cost, she is sure,
Not of her, but the top 1%.

Fightin' Words

A woman who loved a good fight
Would demand, as she argued all night,
Philosophical heft
From those on the left
And empirical proof from the right.

A recent walk through the economic blogosphere left the impression that liberals (of the progressive variety, as in this randomly selected post by Paul Krugman) like to base their arguments on data, history and "whatever works;" while conservatives (particularly of the supply side or libertarian variety) seem to prefer philosophy, game theory, analogies or even the US constitution - anything but empirical studies.

FCIC Blue, & Red

"The truth is unsparingly ugly:
That mortgage-backed bonds became bubbly,
Thanks to Wall Street's big guys
Who would securitize
The same mortgages triply or doubly."   

"The real estate market was screamin' out:
'We must cast the government demon out!
We'd have steadily grown
If they'd left us alone,
Except when they didn't bail Lehman out.'"

New York Times reporter Heidi Moore writes in DealBook that Democrats and Republicans on the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission (FCIC) have drawn entirely different lessons from the financial crisis.  Like the characters in the classic Japanese film Rashomon, they witnessed the same crime but tell conflicting tales.