Krugman Rocks! MUST READ!!!

[Yavin4]

A result of the tax-cut crusade is that there is now a fundamental mismatch between the benefits Americans expect to receive from the government and the revenues government collect. This mismatch is already having profound effects at the state and local levels: teachers and policemen are being laid off and children are being denied health insurance. The federal government can mask its problems for a while, by running huge budget deficits, but it, too, will eventually have to decide whether to cut services or raise taxes. And we are not talking about minor policy adjustments. If taxes stay as low as they are now, government as we know it cannot be maintained. In particular, Social Security will have to become far less generous; Medicare will no longer be able to guarantee comprehensive medical care to older Americans; Medicaid will no longer provide basic medical care to the poor.



http://www.nytimes.com/2003/09/14/magazine/14TAXES.html?pagewanted=1

[whathappened]

1. ya think these rich suckers

give 2 hits about what the needs of the poor mite be

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

2. On Fresh Air

this week, Krugman expounded on this, saying the neocon's plan is to gut and kill ALL social services, including Social Security, and drag the country back to the bad old days of 1929, after the Crash. He said they didn't dare breathe a word of their plans, and saw the ruin of the economy as the only way to achieve their ends.....

[spooky3]

3. I really urge everyone to listen to Krugman

or read his book. It is chock full of sound economics and comments about econ research that can be used to support your positions when you discuss why you believe the Bush regime is disastrous for our country. He does a great job of explaining complex information clearly. Please--those DUers who are spending too much time bashing each other's favorite candidates--instead spend it getting better informed and verbally armed for the bigger battle!

[John_Shadows_1]

22. I read the book this week....

... it's repetetive by nature (it's a collection of his columns) - but that's probably for the best, since the ideas will stick with you. Paul Krugman is leading the most insightful and rational deconstruction of Bushonomics out there.


"Question: What is Bullshit without the l's, the i's, and the t's."

[RedEarth]

4. This administration is so evil....

Krugman seems to be one of the few journalist that is brave enough
to keep pointing out the despicable ways this admin is tearing apart our country. I just wish the rest of the country would wake up and realize how vile b... is.

[ComerPerro]

5. How evil is it?

"Well, I will tell you. It is so evil..."

[spooky3]

6. actually, he is a Princeton professor of economics

who also writes a column for the NY Times.

[hippywife]

14. Formerly of MIT

and a brilliant choice for Secretary of the Treasury in any new Dem admin. :)

[Bozita]

7. Krugman's on Bill Maher's show in 13 minutes on HBO

[Donna Zen]

8. Unfortunately he is usually correct

Did you catch this mornings column?

http://www.nytimes.com/2003/09/12/opinion/12KRUG.html?th

Nor can the members of this administration simply lose like gentlemen. For one thing, that's not how they operate. Furthermore, everything suggests that there are major scandals - involving energy policy, environmental policy, Iraq contracts and cooked intelligence - that would burst into the light of day if the current management lost its grip on power. So these people must win, at any cost.

The result, clearly, will be an ugly, bitter campaign - probably the nastiest of modern American history.

Win at any cost....these are the times that try men and women's souls.

[rustydog]

9. Maybe it is true that the Far Right want to "train wreck" the economy

so that social programs can be gutted simply because there is no money available what with the terra war and homeland security and the tax cuts that still haven't taken full effect yet. (that is in 2005!)

The Rich don't give a shit if there are no dollars for firefighters, police or medical. They are rich they can afford private security, home fire suppression systems and personal bodyguards.
Why should their tax dollars go to supporting us poor scum?

They would DARE Democrats to raise taxes to fund the programs, saying:
"See, we told you, TAX and SPENDING Democrats."

They don't care about Americans, they care about their own f***ing wallets, period.

[tom_paine]

16. Nice sig line, rustydog

But you might want to consider dropping the capital "p" for pResident.

Just a suggestion. It just feels wrong, looking at the Emperor called what he isn't.

[wtmusic]

10. Anyone read his new book?

I saw a review that was lukewarm

[spooky3]

11. It's #6 in sales at Amazon.com

I just ordered one.

[chiburb]

12. Look at this review:

From the New Yorker:

To many liberals, Krugman is a beacon of sanity in a world gone mad; to many conservatives, he’s an infuriating polemicist who distorts the President’s record. What is beyond dispute is that he attracts plenty of attention; last year, the Washington Monthly hailed Krugman as “the most important political columnist in America.” Certainly his twice-weekly column has been distinguished by diligent research and a keen eye for cant. When the White House was busy distancing itself from crooked self-dealing by corporate executives at Enron, WorldCom, and other major corporations, Krugman reminded us how President Bush benefitted from dubious transactions while he was a director of Harken Energy. When conservative pundits were blaming misguided government regulation for the California energy shortage, he pointed out that the real culprits might be private power generators that deliberately withheld supply to drive up prices. (He turned out to be right.)

As a first-rate economist, Krugman knows how to parse the White House’s figures to get at the underlying reality. In a series of columns, he noted that forty per cent or more of the Bush Administration’s proposed tax cuts would go to the richest one per cent of the population, something that the Administration was eager to deny. Unlike most economists, however, Krugman is rarely content to let his figures talk for him, and the longer he has been at the Times the more outspoken he has become. “The Bush administration is an extremely elitist clique trying to maintain a populist façade,” he wrote in a typical column last fall. “Its domestic policies are designed to benefit a very small number of people—basically those who earn at least $300,000 a year, and really don’t care about either the environment or their less fortunate compatriots.”

http://www.newyorker.com/critics/books/?030915crbo_books

[Patriot_Spear]

13. Here's an NPR interview he did Wednesday- listen for yourself

http://www.npr.org/dmg/dmg.php?prgCode=FA&showDate=10-Sep-2003&segNum=1&NPRMediaPref=WM

[salin]

15. Great article not only a must read - but a must print out

and pass around!

[Q]

17. This shouldn't be a shock to any watcher of American politics...

...as this is what the 'Republican Revolution' is all about. Gingrich and the PNAC gang have been planning this for literally decades. All they needed was the courts, both houses and a 'president' without a conscience that did exactly what he's told.

[onecitizen]

18. He also has an article in Rolling Stone............

latest issue (the one with Britney on the cover). Really good article too. "Why does bush get away with it"?

[jeffreyi]

19. I just listened to the Fresh Air

interview...
and while I agree that the results of the tax cuts and huge deficits will probably be to bring down the basic social and environmental infrastructure as we know it, I don't quite understand "who benefits". If the country is thrown into chaos, and nobody has any money or health care, how do the perpetrators benefit? Aren't the Heritage Foundation types better off with a dumbed-down entertainment-addicted populace who has just enough money or credit to keep consuming? I.e., what exists now??

[SpiralHawk]

20. All pigs are created equal. But some pigs are more equal than others.

I heard a rumor that come next quarter choco-rations will be increased by 2 grams for all the proles. I hope it's true this time.

[spooky3]

21. I think you are giving them too much credit

These guys aren't even good agents for their own political position. They are totally self-interested. By the time that the consequences of their wrongdoing become evident, they will be long gone, and their mistresses and families will be living well on their huge inheritences, with no accountability.