Democrats: Not even as smart as a 5th grader
Heather Higgins ·
Jun 9, 2010 at 11:00am
From yesterday’s WSJ, hard data on the (self-evident) economic illiteracy behind so much left wing policy. One wonders where Paul Krugman would come out…
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May '10
Re: Democrats: Not even as smart as a 5th grader
I read that article, but my expectations that it would be a slam dunk were not met. The questions all seemed to have a rightward slant to them, while the "correct" answers always leaned right and would probably be considered controversial. I think this is the disparity in scores between left and right is the result of actual disagreement on the some of the questions rather that liberals' naive ignorance. Unfortunately since I can't access the article anymore, I can't provide specific examples.
May '10
Re: Democrats: Not even as smart as a 5th grader
From what I've seen, the Krugman exam depends on whether you go by his textbook or his NYT commentary. In the text, he states that extending unemployment benefits apparently indefinitely eventually leads to a loss of motivation, while ending them pushes a person to find work. In his op-eds, he says the opposite- Sen. Bunning is the debbil incarnate for suggesting a delay until pay-go can be followed.
Just what all of us loved in school- no absolute answers on tests, just a chance to prattle enough verbiage to generate the "HeTried-C" without having to to the homework.
Re: Democrats: Not even as smart as a 5th grader
Heather, sometimes it's not illiteracy but just deception. Remember the whole "jobs saved or created" fantasy? You'll enjoy Keith Hennessey's takedown of the selective math behind Team OBama's new jobs claims.
Keith does it with his usual brilliance, explaining the whole thing in terms that even fifth graders ... er, liberal Democrats ... can understand.
Edited on Jun 9, 2010 at 2:20pmJun '10
Re: Democrats: Not even as smart as a 5th grader
Bill McGurn: Heather, sometimes it's not illiteracy but just deception. Remember the whole "jobs saved or created" fantasy? You'll enjoy Keith Hennessey's takedown of the selective math behind Team OBama's new jobs claims.
Keith does it with his usual brilliance, explaining the whole thing in terms that even fifth graders ... er, liberal Democrats ... can understand. · Jun 9 at 1:53pm
Keith Hennessey does some great analysis.
May '10
Re: Democrats: Not even as smart as a 5th grader
Bill, this reminds me of the CBO's estimate of jobs created by the stimulus. There is no actual empirical measurement going on. It boils down to, "The stimulus creates jobs because our model says it creates jobs, a model which is based on the assumption that it creates jobs."
Re: Democrats: Not even as smart as a 5th grader
INRS, that's a perfect encapsulation of the Obama administration's attitude toward everything. Replace "stimulus creates jobs" with, say, "health care reform lowers costs and increases access" and suddenly it's all very clear.
Thanks for the link to Keith Hennessey's blog, Bill. He's great. Really love this post, too.
He'd be great to have on Ricochet, wouldn't he?
May '10
Re: Democrats: Not even as smart as a 5th grader
Krugman was televised on Roundtable in Feb-March spouting about supposed "Brazilian Oil-Independence" and looked so shifty-eyed when Geo. Will slapped him down that it visually confirmed Krugman as totally worthless.