Extortionists Versus Con Men By Paul Krugman | nytimes | 1/18/2013 Excerpts: Its looking increasingly as if House Republicans wont crash the world economy by refusing to raise the debt ceiling, at least not right now. Score a big one for the White House (provisionally); its bet that it wouldnt need a way to bypass the ceiling is looking like a winner (although it aint over until the tanned guy cries). Its important, however, to be clear about whats going on here, and in particular about the nature of the debate within the GOP. Some commentary depicts it as a debate between radicals and moderates; but its actually a debate between extortionists and con men. Heres what I mean. Essentially the entire GOP is committed to radical policy goals that are also deeply unpopular. All but 10 House Republicans voted for the Ryan plan, which would privatize and defund Medicare, impose savage cuts on Medicaid, and cut taxes on the wealthy and corporations. There was effectively no dissent from the notion that we need to dismantle the welfare state in order to make room for low taxes at the top. But the public favors higher taxes on the affluent, and strongly supports all the major social insurance programs. So the divide within the GOP is about how to get past this awkward political reality. One faction basically wants to use the partys power of obstruction: threaten to provoke a crisis over the debt ceiling - in fact, do this again and again - and thereby force Obama to implement the GOP agenda. The other faction wants to achieve the same goals by stealth. Pretend that what youre really concerned about is debt and the fate of our children; cultivate the Very Serious People and the deficit scolds; impersonate a budget wonk; and smuggle the agenda in by dressing it in fiscal responsibility camouflage. So it is, as I said, the extortionists versus the con men: same goals, different tactics. Unfortunately for the Republicans - and fortunately for the rest of us - neither approach seems to be working (although a combination of stealth and extortion came alarmingly close to getting Obama to raise the Medicare age in 2011 and reduce Social Security benefits just a few weeks ago). But there is no hint at this point that anyone in the party is willing to consider the possibility of not demanding policies the public hates. http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/01/18/extortionists-versus-con-men/ ..... IMO: And that is precisely why the republicans will fail in their Extortionist and Con Men approach to gain the agenda they both want. They are just working it from two angles in greater hope of success, but the American people have lost their trust in the republican party and its lousy choice of Congressmen, have watched them attempt to buy the White House, have watched them attempt to demonize President Obama. I believe that it is slowly dawning on the republicans that they lost the 2012 election because of the deep distrust the American people now have in them, and they seem to be starting to work on the very things that have made the Democrats successful...immigration reform, the ability to negotiate, and now seem, although superficially, to be interested in the plight of the American unemployed. It is now too late for anything but voting them out of office, as the republicans have demonstrated that their priorities lie not with the people of America, but with their own fanatical agenda.
And of course the Dems aren't, we need to throw them all out of office for shirking their duties. Shouldn't the Senate be working on a budget, like for the last 4 years?????
Isnt paul krugman the guy who wanted to lie, to the American people about a fake alien invasion as a way to increase taxes? Yeah, He is.... Nobel laureate economist Paul Krugman repeated his assertion this week that the United States could benefit economically if the government began pouring money into anti-ET defense in preparation for a possible alien invasion of Earth. Even a faked war of the worlds scare might help, he suggested. hmmmm... Hey Paul, Who is a conman? and um Who is an Extortionist? PS Please kill yourself.
It was like Paul Ryan crying at the National Review how he's not gonna let Obama *villianize conservatives(ism)* ... he did this by re-introducing the Ryan Plan at Meet the Press ... just like he did before that and before that and before that since his 2012 election-loss slamming ... Different day & rhetoric ... same zombie with the same con ... as a no-term VP.
Yep! He is that scum bag. It's pathetic that people even read his crap and even worse that some read it and then spread it around like willing idiots. There is no fiscal responsibility is Krugman's world.
