Columnist Paul Krugman Goes Dark
To be fair to the original headline
America Goes Dark
By PAUL KRUGMAN
My take on his article-
This is from the same guy that said the epic record level stimulus spending was not enough by two freaking thirds! Ugh. Even Obamas own economic advisor is warning of the consequences of the already severe deficit. A deficit apparently that is in the authors view far smaller than it should be, as long as progressives are in charge. Ugh again.
The very same man who decried the spending when a Republican was President. Or fails to fairly evaluate a proposal from a Republican. Good economics are beyond partisanship. Of course economics advisers exist primarily to make weather forecasters look good anyway.
I could write an essay in counterpoint to this pretty easy, and without the partisan hyperbole. Unlike the author. I’ll just take on two paragraphs for brevity.
Krugman-
“”And what about the economy’s future? Everything we know about economic growth says that a well-educated population and high-quality infrastructure are crucial. Emerging nations are making huge efforts to upgrade their roads, their ports and their schools. Yet in America we’re going backward.”“
Excuse me but what good is highly educated when the jobs are sent overseas, the well educated Indian or Phillipino people? (Computing and accounting) Off shoring was tax sheltered by Presidents of both parties. So, not a partisan issue, but damnable none the less. Now we have our consumer goods made by children in awful conditions in China. Conditions outlawed here a century ago! Krugman deliberately forgets much of what we have already learned here, the hard way.
Again From Krugman-
“”How did we get to this point? It’s the logical consequence of three decades of antigovernment rhetoric, rhetoric that has convinced many voters that a dollar collected in taxes is always a dollar wasted, that the public sector can’t do anything right.”“
This rhetoric has had no effect outside of the self aggrandizing professional punditry. What does have direct effect though as exemplified by California “going dark”-Not from rhetoric, nor a lack of vision.
Schools are being closed and teachers laid off to pay drunken sailor spending in pensions for retired school administrators and teachers. CALPERS lost big in the market like every one else. Unlike everyone else the payouts are “fixed benefit”, which threatens to exceed all other state spending. Krugman proposes we raise taxes every time to cover these grievous policy errors. Economic blindness!
End the economic blindness of pundits like Krugman and you take that critical step toward sustainable recovery. The real fix is obvious. Connect spending and revenues.
So simple it’s literally anathema.