Paul Krugman: The War on Logic

[cal04]

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/17/opinion/17krugman.html?_r=1&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss

My wife and I were thinking of going out for an inexpensive dinner tonight. But John Boehner, the speaker of the House, says that no matter how cheap the meal may seem, it will cost thousands of dollars once you take our monthly mortgage payments into account.

Wait a minute, you may say. How can our mortgage payments be a cost of going out to eat, when we’ll have to make the same payments even if we stay home? But Mr. Boehner is adamant: our mortgage is part of the cost of our meal, and to say otherwise is just a budget gimmick.

O.K., the speaker hasn’t actually weighed in on our plans for the evening. But he and his G.O.P. colleagues have lately been making exactly the nonsensical argument I’ve just described — not about tonight’s dinner, but about health care reform. And the nonsense wasn’t a slip of the tongue; it’s the official party position, laid out in charts and figures.

We are, I believe, witnessing something new in American politics. Last year, looking at claims that we can cut taxes, avoid cuts to any popular program and still balance the budget, I observed that Republicans seemed to have lost interest in the war on terror and shifted focus to the war on arithmetic. But now the G.O.P. has moved on to an even bigger project: the war on logic.

[krispos42]

1. Fact have a well-known liberal bias

And so, apparently, does math.

[applegrove]

2. Part of the Leo Straussian way of leading. Misinform your followers and then

do what you want. The right just can't stand HCR because it will work well and they don't want an example of 'government programs that work well' to exist.

[patrice]

3. + My all-time favorite, "Because money for the war on Iraq wasn't in the budget, it wasn't spent."

[snagglepuss]

4. LOL "Republicans "shifted focus to the war on arithmetic."

"All they ever needed or wanted were some numbers and charts to wave at the press, fooling some people into believing that we’re having some kind of rational discussion. We aren’t."



K and R

[handmade34]

5. everyone should read Paul Krugman

"...it’s not about the money...the modern G.O.P. has been taken over by an ideology in which the suffering of the unfortunate isn’t a proper concern of government, and alleviating that suffering at taxpayer expense is immoral, never mind how little it costs.

Given that their minds were made up from the beginning, top Republicans weren’t interested in and didn’t need any real policy analysis — in fact, they’re basically contemptuous of such analysis, something that shines through in their health care report. All they ever needed or wanted were some numbers and charts to wave at the press, fooling some people into believing that we’re having some kind of rational discussion. We aren’t"

[BzaDem]

6. K & R.

[BzaDem]

7. Darn, accidentally clicked U instead of R. Someone cancel me out!

[kentauros]

8. Done!

:hi:

[BzaDem]

10. Thanks :)

[ThomCat]

9. "the suffering of the unfortunate isn’t a proper concern of government"

It is very unfortunate that it isn't just Republicans that buy into this toxic mindset.

There are a hell of a lot of conservative Democrats buying into this.

Even 'Moderate' Democrat who thinks that corporate funding is the core of the party (and works to make that true), and listens to lobbyists to the exclusion of voters is helping to make this true even if they don't think so.

There are very few people left with any influence or authority on the left working hard to preserve the idea that government Must Concern Itself with the Welfare of those who are poor or suffering or disadvantaged. We need to support those few, and we need to find ways to get others like them into office.

[gratuitous]

17. Oh, the "unfortunate"

But it's so much fun deciding who's unfortunate and "deserving" of help, and who's unfortunate and should just go hang. You're a bankster who bet house money on a "sure thing"? You were privatizing the profits and socializing the risks, and now you need a big chunk of change to make your bonuses? Deserving! You were one of the victims of these grifters, and you need some help temporarily to avoid living on the street? Fuck you!

[CC]

11. It is the same BS as those that

argue that we have to live with in a budget and can't spend more than we bring in therefore the government must do the same. Only though we might live with in an average monthly budget very few buy a house, car or pay for an expensive emergency with cash out right. Most have to get a mortgage to buy a house, have car payments and if you are lucky enough to have credit there for emergencies. You can watch a right-wing, conservative, no deficit person almost shut down for a minute or two before they yell that it is not the same as the government and it shouldn't do thing on credit. :evilgrin: They cannot allow themselves to agree even if you use their own debt as the example.

[Jim__]

12. We need more analysts like Krugman.

Rather than the big-hair idiots that just parrot what the boners of the world tell them.

[Fumesucker]

13. Being good at logic tends to lead people to think for themselves..

Something neither political party really likes but it's fucking kryptonite to Republicans.

[lumberjack_jeff]

14. Money quote

The key to understanding the G.O.P. analysis of health reform is that the party’s leaders are not, in fact, opposed to reform because they believe it will increase the deficit. Nor are they opposed because they seriously believe that it will be “job-killing” (which it won’t be). They’re against reform because it would cover the uninsured — and that’s something they just don’t want to do.

And it’s not about the money. As I tried to explain in my last column, the modern G.O.P. has been taken over by an ideology in which the suffering of the unfortunate isn’t a proper concern of government, and alleviating that suffering at taxpayer expense is immoral, never mind how little it costs.

Given that their minds were made up from the beginning, top Republicans weren’t interested in and didn’t need any real policy analysis — in fact, they’re basically contemptuous of such analysis, something that shines through in their health care report. All they ever needed or wanted were some numbers and charts to wave at the press, fooling some people into believing that we’re having some kind of rational discussion. We aren’t.

[BrklynLiberal]

15. Marked for later

[pottersvilleusa]

16. "The war on arithmetic"!

I love Krugman.

[bertman]

18. That's at least two of us, pottersvilleusa. REC. nt