Krugman to Obama: You Tightwad
Leftist economist and New York Times columnist Paul Krugman is the gift that keeps on giving for a conservative pundit. According to Krugman, President Obama's unprecedented grow-the-government spending spree--shown in the nearby graph of combined federal, state and local government spending--never happened.
Here’s what you need to know: The whole story [of "a huge expansion of government"] is a myth. There never was a big expansion of government spending. In fact, that has been the key problem with economic policy in the Obama years: we never had the kind of fiscal expansion that might have created the millions of jobs we need.
But then what gave rise to the Tea Party movement, widespread concern over the record federal budget deficit, and the Republican surge in recent political polls? Right wing lies. Krugman explains:
The answer to the second question — why there’s a widespread perception that government spending has surged, when it hasn’t — is that there has been a disinformation campaign from the right, based on the usual combination of fact-free assertions and cooked numbers. And this campaign has been effective in part because the Obama administration hasn’t offered an effective reply.
Um, I think Professor Krugman might want to review David Limbaugh's recent post on liberal projection for a hint on where to look first for "fact-free assertions." How else to explain his conclusion?
if job-creating government spending has failed to bring down unemployment in the Obama era, it’s not because it doesn’t work; it’s because it wasn’t tried.
Faced with the conservative juggernaut rolling toward November, it's interesting that George Soros seems to have made it all the way through the grieving process to acceptance:
Asked if the prospect of Republican control of one or both houses of Congress concerned him, he said: “It does, because I think they are pushing the wrong policies, but I’m not in a position to stop it. I don’t believe in standing in the way of an avalanche.”
Meanwhile, Krugman's expurgated Kubler-Ross model is a lot easier to memorize: all you need is denial.
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Aug '10
Re: Krugman to Obama: You Tightwad
I have a disturbing mental image, whose details I won't go into here. But it's of Obama really enjoying having Krugman chastise him for being a naughty tightwad.
After all, who else would do it? Everyone else is busy castigating Obama for being such a spendthrift.
There must be a certain relish in being accused of tightwaddery if you've been spending like Obama.
Aug '10
Re: Krugman to Obama: You Tightwad
Delusional cognitive disconnect. A template for insanity.
May '10
Re: Krugman to Obama: You Tightwad
Not to quibble with a Nobel Laureate, isn't it a little early to use the phrase "the Obama years"? I know it may have felt like a long time, but I think that phrase is only something you get to use near the end of a second term....
Jul '10
Re: Krugman to Obama: You Tightwad
Could it be Krugman has subconsciously already put a four-year cap on Obama's administration?
Re: Krugman to Obama: You Tightwad
Agreed. Henceforth from me: "The Obama Months." They only feel like years.
Oct '10
Re: Krugman to Obama: You Tightwad
Krugman is falling along the lines of Olberman, Maher and......name a few more. Only significant if we keep mentioning them. BTW, when was the last time Krugman was correct in theory? Why is he still pertinent? Why did Frank and Dodd write the new financial debacle? There is a rabbit somewhere going down the rabbit hole....
Jul '10
Re: Krugman to Obama: You Tightwad
Krugman's columns have grown sloppy, angry and shrill of late. (Well, they were always sloppy...).
Must be hell knowing you're the only guy smart enough to save an entire economy, but no one will listen. What really, really ticks him off is knowing that it's those ignorant, buffoonish Tea Partiers who have so cowed the kindred spirits in the Obama administration that they won't heed his courageous clarion call.
"Come on, girls!" he pipes, advancing to the ramparts, "Pull up your panties and spend!"
Re: Krugman to Obama: You Tightwad
Doesn't this all seem like maneuvering? What I keep hearing from the left -- as they contemplate the failure and rejection of the most progressive, left-wing president since FDR -- is a trying-on of excuses. All of these columnists keep dragging out an excuse -- he didn't spend enough; he gave up on the public option; the Republicans used foreign money to attack him; Bush booby-trapped the economy; the Tea Party is racist -- trying it on, looking in the mirror and wondering if this will do, if this will be enough to get them through the coming Ice Age in progressive, left wing political clout.
Sep '10
Re: Krugman to Obama: You Tightwad
If Sarah Palin, or any conservative, wants a tagline to hang around Obama's neck so he can wear for the next 2 years it should be:
"Spend, baby, Spend!"
Jul '10
Re: Krugman to Obama: You Tightwad
Does this excuse for failure make my behind look big?
Sep '10
Re: Krugman to Obama: You Tightwad
Kenneth
Does this excuse for failure make my behind look big? · Oct 12 at 8:47am
It all comes down to one phrase: "Please vote for us, we're the victims!" They keep portraying the Evil Rethuglicans with the snidley whiplash moustache (or Bill Walsh beard) and the Grey Lady is tied to the tracks with the Rush Limbaugh Express hurtling down the track as Chief Engineer Sarah Palin toots the horn saying "Damn the environment and full speed ahead".
Would make a good photoshop.
May '10
Re: Krugman to Obama: You Tightwad
Everything I can think of saying about this...person violates Ricochet's agreed-to language requirements
Oct '10
Re: Krugman to Obama: You Tightwad
Shorter George Savage: "Intellectually dishonest Krugman—but I repeat myself—projects. Film at 11." Yeah, it really is a dog-bites-man story.