Krugman: Obama Liquidates Himself

[Kurt_and_Hunter]

Paul Krugman
January 26, 2010, 9:01 am
Obama Liquidates Himself


A spending freeze? That’s the brilliant response of the Obama team to their first serious political setback?

It’s appalling on every level.

It’s bad economics, depressing demand when the economy is still suffering from mass unemployment. Jonathan Zasloff writes that Obama seems to have decided to fire Tim Geithner and replace him with “the rotting corpse of Andrew Mellon” (Mellon was Herbert Hoover’s Treasury Secretary, who according to Hoover told him to “liquidate the workers, liquidate the farmers, purge the rottenness”.)

It’s bad long-run fiscal policy, shifting attention away from the essential need to reform health care and focusing on small change instead.

And it’s a betrayal of everything Obama’s supporters thought they were working for. Just like that, Obama has embraced and validated the Republican world-view — and more specifically, he has embraced the policy ideas of the man he defeated in 2008. A correspondent writes, “I feel like an idiot for supporting this guy.”

Now, I still cling to a fantasy: maybe, just possibly, Obama is going to tie his spending freeze to something that would actually help the economy, like an employment tax credit. (No, trivial tax breaks don’t count). There has, however, been no hint of anything like that in the reports so far. Right now, this looks like pure disaster.



http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/01/26/obama-liquidates-himself/

[neverforget]

1. Krugman didn't like Sen Grassley's 3 year spending freeze back in

March 2009 either. At least he's consistent.

http://wonkroom.thinkprogress.org/2009/03/24/grassley-freeze/

[depakid]

2. Now that's a beaut!

Hadn't realized that dimwit proposed this last year....

Now I know its gotta be a great idea.

[freddie mertz]

3. Sorry Paul. Back under the bus for you.

You forgot to listen to Britney:

"Honestly, I think we should just trust our president in every decision that he makes and we should just support that, you know, and be faithful in what happens. "

[QC]

4. LOL! I think Krugman is used to being under the Hopemobile by now. n/t

[Armstead]

5. Paul, meet bus -- even though a few weeks ago you were a darling for supporting HCR

[Jennicut]

6. Krugman is a an independent voice who shills for no one.

I like that about him, even if I don't agree with him on every single one of his posts.

[freddie mertz]

8. That, of course, is the point. Krugman marches to his own beat.

He's not a cheerleader, and he's not a "hater."

He's a guy who writes a column.

[Jennicut]

9. Yes, and I hate when people try to say he is on their side or against them.

He is on no one's side...he calls it as he sees it. I respect him for that.

[The Backlash Cometh]

7. Question:

So, can candidates run on a fiscal conservative platform when Obama essentially stole their issue? We'll know by election time if it was a smart move or foolhardy.

[SlingBlade]

10. And Reality Sets In.... Krugman rocks !

[Cali_Democrat]

11. OUCH!!!

That was brutal.

[Writer]

12. Paul, I understand you're intelligent, but is there a political development you WON'T blog on?

Just curious...

[Impedimentus]

13. Our president is starting to look like a Bush Republican :(

Very sad indeed.

[Hawkowl]

17. Starting?!?!

I'm just shocked that the rank and file Democrats are catching on to this fact so quickly. It is a sign of the truly dire economic/military crises we have been forced into.

[WeCanWorkItOut]

14. But the health reform bill, of which Krugman approves, is also bad economics

I can't say he marches to his own drum. He's pretty much
in step with other high-income "liberals,"
like Jacob Hacker, who wanted to "stuff with gold"
the mouths of the medical lobby.
The Democrats are proposing to pass out (or do
too little to restrain) a lot of gold.
And Krugman seems content with that.

What's different about Krugman is his following.
So if he had taken the time to tell people
some basic things about what is wrong with
our health care system, he could have changed
the debate a little. He chose not to.
So he's partly to blame for Obama not knowing
where to turn.

[johan helge]

15. A tragedy

I don't understand how Obama and his advisors think. They know of course that this may mean that Obama loses in 2012. But do they really believe that it's right to freeze spending when unemployment is around 10 % (which I guess it will be also next year)?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:US_annual_federal_deficits_over_receipts_1901_to_2006.svg

This figure shows that, since 1970, the federal deficit as a percentage of receipts, has increased under alle five Republican presidents (Nixon perhaps excepted), and DECREASED under the two Democratic ones. So the Rethugs' concern about the deficit it just theatre as usual. It's all about making Obama lose in 2012.

[amandabeech]

16. All these people who are complaining about deficits will stop when they or a loved one gets laid off

n/t