Paul Krugman economist
New York Times columnist and economist Paul Krugman takes a stab at disproving three of the most popularly believed myths about Obama’s health care reform.
1. It’s a government takeover of health care.
2. ObamaCare will do nothing to reduce cost.
3. Health care reform is fiscally irresponsible.
Health reform is back from the dead. Many Democrats have realized that their electoral prospects will be better if they can point to a real accomplishment. Polling on reform — which was never as negative as portrayed — shows signs of improving. And I’ve been really impressed by the passion and energy of this guy Barack Obama. Where was he last year?
But reform still has to run a gantlet of misinformation and outright lies. So let me address three big myths about the proposed reform, myths that are believed by many people who consider themselves well-informed, but who have actually fallen for deceptive spin.
Krugman Calls Out Deficit Fear-mongering
Paul Krugman economist
Here we go again. Just like in 2003, groupthink is sweeping the nation. When the war drums were beating their loudest to attack Iraq, the media and pundits were onboard with the Bush administration lies. No one challenged what everyone knew to be true – that Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction and he was going to attack the US. Now seven years later, we’re back at it again, but this time it’s that deadly deficit that will surely kill you and your family before the year is through.
Economist Paul Krugman has been calling for more deficit spending since the recession began. He wrote that “running big deficits in the face of the worst economic slump since the 1930s is actually the right thing to do. If anything, deficits should be bigger than they are because the government should be doing more than it is to create jobs.”
And according to Krugman, he’s not a lone ranger supporting deficit spending.
“Many economists take a much calmer view of budget deficits than anything you’ll see on TV. Nor do investors seem unduly concerned: U.S. government bonds continue to find ready buyers, even at historically low interest rates,” Krugman said in his Feb. 4 column.
So what’s all the fuss about deficits? It’s politics of course. The GOP and their talk radio and Fox News echo chamber have created the illusion that deficit spending is bad and needs to stop now.
Krugman wrote that “the current sense of panic is that deficit fear-mongering has become a key part of Republican political strategy, doing double duty: it damages President Obama’s image even as it cripples his policy agenda.”
And like the media’s duck-walking in lockstep with Bush’s push for war with Iraq, Americans will suffer if deficit spending is stopped now. Americans need jobs and they need them now. State governments can’t run deficits, but the federal government can.
“For the fact is that thanks to deficit hysteria,” Krugman said, “Washington now has its priorities all wrong: all the talk is about how to shave a few billion dollars off government spending, while there’s hardly any willingness to tackle mass unemployment. Policy is headed in the wrong direction — and millions of Americans will pay the price.”
Read Krugman’s column Fiscal Scare Tactics.”
Krugman: A Hatchet Job So Bad It’s Good
Paul Krugman economist
In the past, the insurance industry’s power has been a major barrier to health-care reform. Most notably, the industry paid for the infamous “Harry and Louise” ads that helped kill the Clinton plan. But times have changed.
Krugman: Misguided Monetary Mentalities
Paul Krugman economist
Paul Krugman won a Nobel Prize in Economics last year and he’s apparently one of the only economists who knows what’s going on with our economy. In today’s column he takes on the Federal Reserve and the old-school mentality that interest rates should go up at the same time unemployment is increasing.
If the Fed does raise interest rates, and unemployment continues going up, the possibility of another Great Depression is real. Krugman believes we’ve avoided a depression, but the signs are there that maybe we haven’t. The economy is teetering on the edge of total failure, with Goldman Sachs firmly in charge, it certainly should give us all pause.
Krugman: The Politics of Spite
Think about just how bizarre it is for Republicans to position themselves as the defenders of unrestricted Medicare spending. First of all, the modern G.O.P. considers itself the party of Ronald Reagan — and Reagan was a fierce opponent of Medicare’s creation, warning that it would destroy American freedom. (Honest.) In the 1990s, Newt Gingrich tried to force drastic cuts in Medicare financing. And in recent years, Republicans have repeatedly decried the growth in entitlement spending — growth that is largely driven by rising health care costs.
Paul Krugman economist
Paul Krugman has moved past the current health care reform debate and onto the next big problem – global warming. Kudos to Krugman for trying to stay ahead of the game of political discourse and trying to push the case for real environmental reform, but getting American capitalists to pollute less is going to make the health care debate look like a stroll through Central Park on warm summer day.
But the larger reason we’re ignoring climate change is that Al Gore was right: This truth is just too inconvenient. Responding to climate change with the vigor that the threat deserves would not, contrary to legend, be devastating for the economy as a whole. But it would shuffle the economic deck, hurting some powerful vested interests even as it created new economic opportunities. And the industries of the past have armies of lobbyists in place right now; the industries of the future don’t.
Nor is it just a matter of vested interests. It’s also a matter of vested ideas. For three decades the dominant political ideology in America has extolled private enterprise and denigrated government, but climate change is a problem that can only be addressed through government action. And rather than concede the limits of their philosophy, many on the right have chosen to deny that the problem exists.
So there you have it, like health care reform, the green economy President Obama said he wants to create will remain underrepresented in Washington. But maybe, just maybe, Obama can provide the much needed leadership to take on the Elite who like things the way they are, to give the innovative new companies a chance to change our path to destruction into one of salvation. He just better not leave it up to Congress like he did with health care reform or we’re all screwed.
Read Krugman’s column The New York Times.
Books by Paul Krugman on Amazon
The Return of Depression Economics and the Crisis of 2008
The Conscience of a Liberal
The Great Unraveling: Losing Our Way in the New Century
Essentials of Economics
The Cult of the Federal Reserve stifles debate and helped screw up the economy
The Huffington Post published an investigative story on how the Federal Reserve controls what economists think, write and missed the obvious housing bubble burst.
This is a good start, but I can’t help but think there’s a lot more to this story than what the Huffington Post was able to get. The problem, even for a popular online publication like this, is they lack access to power players.
