Today, Paul Krugman in a NYTimes column points out that many opponents of President Obama’s stimulus plan are either trying to intentionally mislead the public about the facts or don’t know enough about the subject.
| “[T]he obvious cheap shots don’t pose as much danger to the Obama administration’s efforts to get a plan through as arguments and assertions that are equally fraudulent but can seem superficially plausible to those who don’t know their way around economic concepts and numbers.” |
1. First, there is the bogus talking point that the Obama plan will cost $275,000 per job created. In truth, “the net cost will be as little as $60,000.”
2. “Next, write off anyone who asserts that it’s always better to cut taxes than to increase government spending because taxpayers, not bureaucrats, are the best judges of how to spend their money.”
3. “Finally, ignore anyone who tries to make something of the fact that the new administration’s chief economic adviser has in the past favored monetary policy over fiscal policy as a response to recessions.” “[T]he interest rates the Fed controls are already effectively at zero.”
| These are only some of the fundamentally fraudulent antistimulus arguments out there. Basically, conservatives are throwing any objection they can think of against the Obama plan, hoping that something will stick.
But here’s the thing: Most Americans aren’t listening. The most encouraging thing I’ve heard lately is Mr. Obama’s reported response to Republican objections to a spending-oriented economic plan: ‘I won.’ Indeed he did — and he should disregard the huffing and puffing of those who lost.” |
Tags: obama presidency, president obama