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Monday, October 11, 2010

When did Paul Krugman lose it?

In today's NY Times, Paul Krugman addresses what he calls the myth of government spending. Here is the essence of the column:

"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.

Ask yourself: What major new federal programs have started up since Mr. Obama took office? Health care reform, for the most part, hasn’t kicked in yet, so that can’t be it. So are there giant infrastructure projects under way? No. Are there huge new benefits for low-income workers or the poor? No. Where’s all that spending we keep hearing about? It never happened."

This is absolute proof that Krugman has lost his mind. He is no longer making economic arguments. Now he is making up economic "facts". I would call it lying, but maybe Krugman has just gone insane.

Where is the spending? How about $800 billion on the stimulus. That alone was more than a 30% increasee in federal spending in one move. How about the 84% increase in federal discretionery spending in the last two years? That increase has nothing to do with the stimulus; it is another big increase all on its own. Military spending has gone up dramatically. Medicare spending has gone up dramatically. Social Security costs for the first time outstripped revenues for the program. But Krugman sees no increase in spending.

I do not understand why the NY Times continues to publish nonsense that spews from this fool.

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