The New Voodoo
(LP note: Krugman's article below begins with the "h" word, which I predict we'll be seeing more and more of in 2011. He emphatically pins the tail on the elephant, not the donkey, but let's keep in mind there are plenty of donkeys who think nothing of belonging to the "h" club. If there weren't we wouldn't have a donkey party president so easily caving to elephant party demands....)
By PAUL KRUGMAN
NYT
Hypocrisy never goes out of style, but, even so, 2010 was something special. For it was the year of budget doubletalk — the year of arsonists posing as firemen, of people railing against deficits while doing everything they could to make those deficits bigger.
And I don’t just mean politicians. Did you notice the U-turn many political commentators and other Serious People made when the Obama-McConnell tax-cut deal was announced? One day deficits were the great evil and we needed fiscal austerity now now now, never mind the state of the economy. The next day $800 billion in debt-financed tax cuts, with the prospect of more to come, was the greatest thing since sliced bread, a triumph of bipartisanship.
Still, it was the politicians — and, yes, that mainly meant Republicans — who took the lead on the hypocrisy front.
In the first half of 2010, impassioned speeches denouncing federal red ink were the G.O.P. norm. And concerns about the deficit were the stated reason for Republican opposition to extension of unemployment benefits, or for that matter any proposal to help Americans cope with economic hardship.
(More here.)
By PAUL KRUGMAN
NYT
Hypocrisy never goes out of style, but, even so, 2010 was something special. For it was the year of budget doubletalk — the year of arsonists posing as firemen, of people railing against deficits while doing everything they could to make those deficits bigger.
And I don’t just mean politicians. Did you notice the U-turn many political commentators and other Serious People made when the Obama-McConnell tax-cut deal was announced? One day deficits were the great evil and we needed fiscal austerity now now now, never mind the state of the economy. The next day $800 billion in debt-financed tax cuts, with the prospect of more to come, was the greatest thing since sliced bread, a triumph of bipartisanship.
Still, it was the politicians — and, yes, that mainly meant Republicans — who took the lead on the hypocrisy front.
In the first half of 2010, impassioned speeches denouncing federal red ink were the G.O.P. norm. And concerns about the deficit were the stated reason for Republican opposition to extension of unemployment benefits, or for that matter any proposal to help Americans cope with economic hardship.
(More here.)
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There is no doubt that when the Republicans controlled Congress during the Bush years from 2000 to 2006, they behaved just like Democrats piling on debt, handing out subsidies to favored constituencies, carving out market niches for campaign benefactors, essentially bribing voting blocs with public monies to get votes. In other words, the Republicans during the Bush years were doing all the things Democrats are famous for.
The last straw for me was Medicare Part D. This was the same program that Clinton wanted in the late 1990s that DeLay and Frist were opposed to, but when Bush became President all of a sudden it was a great program that DeLay and Frist signed off on - the very same program Clinton wanted. This is what we have become as a nation - government by a spoil system of the majority who use profigate borrowing and spending to bribe voting blocs in order to help get them re-elected.
In 2006, having been fed up with the Republicans govnering like Democrats, conservatives and Republicans stayed home ushering in Nancy Pelosi and the era of debt-fueled government orgies.
The nation saw the carnage of unchecked liberalism and it's crony capitalism of buy-offs, kick-backs, back room deals, exemptions for certain constitencies and outright bribes in order to get their legislation passed. Not to mention the boot-on-the-throat governing style of OBama, Reid and Pelosi. Ask yourself if Obama had campaigned on how he has actually governed in the last two years, do you think he would have been elected? Imagine in 2008, Obama campaigning on 10% unemployment, $3-per-gallon gasoline, a ramp up the war in Afghanistan, trillion dollar deficits with trillion dollar debts, a complete waste of money through stimulus, and the ever-present and adolescent 'blame Bush' mantra, would he have been elected. He was elected because he wansn't Bush, not because the country wanted any of his policy goals to be implemented. That is why in nearly every election since 2008, Republicans have won almost all of them.
As bad as the failed policies of the past were, the policies of the present are even worse. And the country realizes this even if Krugman and Pomeroy don't. Republicans are hypocrites because they were using the Democrat play book during the Bush years and implementing Democrat policies. And why shouldn't they have after being told by the media that Republicans need to be more like Democrats. So, the problem is actually the failed policies are Democrat policies - this is what makes them a failure. Whether Democrats implement Democrat policies or Republicans implement Democrat policies, that they are Democrat policies is what makes them a failure. The Republicans, we can only hope, have learned the lesson that governing like Democrats and implementing Democrat policies is a recipe for disaster. As Marco Rubio said after his crushing defeat of Charlie Crist, this election is not an endorsement of Republican policies, but it is a second chance. The Republicans need to govern like Republicans and not like Democrats to restore their credibility. If they go off on a borrow and spend orgy like the Democrats have for the past four years, we'll fire them, too, just like we fired Pelosi and Reid.
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