Krugman Blames Downgrade On ‘The Extremism of Anti-Tax Republicans’
Early Saturday morning, NewsBusters asked how Obama-loving media would spin America's debt downgrade in order to blame it on the GOP. True to form, New York Times columnist Paul wrote at his blog: On one hand, there is a case to be made that the madness of the right has made America a fundamentally unsound nation. And yes, it is the madness of the right: if not for the extremism of anti-tax Republicans, we would have no trouble reaching an agreement that would ensure long-run solvency. We would have no trouble reaching an agreement that would ensure long-run solvency? Really? Then why didn't the President or his Party that controls the Senate ever put in writing such a proposal that could have been fully analyzed by America's legislators as well as scored by the Congressional Budget Office? After Obama's “grand bargain” was orally proposed without specific details, it was made quite clear that Democrats weren't comfortable with doing anything to Social Security and Medicare. As such, it appeared neither side supported what was coming out of the White House. It is therefore absurd of Krugman to accuse Republicans of blocking anything that would have altered Standard and Poor's decision. Consider too that before the GOP took over the House in January, the President and his Party that controlled both chambers of Congress couldn't get a budget done that, as promised by presidential candidate Obama, included the expiration of the Bush tax cuts. To suggest they “would have no trouble reaching an agreement that would ensure long-run solvency” which included more deficit reduction than what the President signed Tuesday requires what Hillary Clinton would call a willing suspension of disbelief. Nevermind that Obama initially called for a “clean vote” on this matter that wouldn't have included any deficit reduction whatsoever. Given S&P's decision Friday, such a move would have resulted in a downgrade anyway. Maybe more importantly, Krugman has made it clear for months that he doesn't support any spending cuts. Quite the contrary, he thinks we need another grand stimulus package to get the economy going. Just imagine how the credit ratings agencies would respond to America spending more money it doesn't have. Add it all up, and blaming this on Republicans lacks any understanding of what's happened in the nation's capital in recent months. We'd expect nothing less from a guy that even the folks on MSNBC's “Morning Joe” think is a “blind ideologue” producing tripe one would hear in a school “faculty lounge.”
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Krugman Blames Downgrade On ‘The Extremism of Anti-Tax Republicans’
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on August 6, 2011. Filed under