Krugman: Confidence Fairies Have Infiltrated The White House

[BurtWorm]

http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/07/06/confidence-fairies-have-infiltrated-the-white-house/

I was on Good Morning America this not-so-good morning, doing what I could. But I was struck by something that George Stephanopoulos said: he claimed to have been speaking to an administration official who asserted that what we need to get businesses investing is for business to know that the government has stopped — presumably, that means no new spending, no new regulation, whatever.

GS is a careful guy, so this must be true. And it’s shocking — not that people are saying this, but that someone inside the administration is saying it.

It’s garbage, of course: businesses are refusing to invest because they don’t see enough demand for their products. And administration economists know that it’s garbage. But obviously some people in the WH — I’m guessing a political person, but who knows — have bought the right-wing line hook, line, and sinker.

We’ll never know what might have happened if Obama and co. had actually had the courage of their convictions; what we do know is that they have undermined their own message at every turn.

[Enrique]

1. whoever that WH official is, get rid of him

put Paul Krugman in his place.

[Roland99]

28. Thing is, there are probably about 2-3 dozen of that type running amok in the WH

And not to mention in a few cherry spots (Geithner being the most notable)

[spanone]

2. hearsay from stephanopoulos? no thanks paul.

[emulatorloo]

3. I wish I had as much confidence in George Stephanopoulos as Krugman does

Sadly I don't.


But if this is true, fire the anonymous administration official.

[Greyhound]

4. Watching opportunities float by as leadership.

It's not that they're completely bad so much as they refuse to do good in any meaningful way.
:kick: & R

[kenny blankenship]

5. You would not believe the speed and ferocity of his eleven dimensional chess playing - 24hrs a day!

Unfortunately he insists on playing against himself most of the time or the Democratic Wing, so it just looks kind of stupid.

But the speed! The ferocity!

[Greyhound]

6. LOL!

Thanks for the larf!

I stopped in for a quick check before getting on with the day and this got me smiling.
:rofl:

[JHB]

13. Pragmatismpalooza!

Less chess, more pugilism.

[Bandit]

23. What's that famous quote, "All it takes for evil to exist is for good men to do nothing"

Actually I should not have put that in quotes as I paraphrased what I remember of it, and I don't recall who actually said it.

[disillusioned73]

24. This..

"All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing." - Edmund Burke

edit;

Oh, and yes I agree

[Lorien]

7. On election night 2008 I imagined that DU would be celebrating daily at this stage

the Patriot act would be overturned, our military would be leaving the Middle East, Gitmo would be closed, New public schools and green energy projects would be putting Americans back to work, regulation would be bringing to banksters under control, we would all be looking forward to a new health care system that was similar to the NHS in Britain...and on and on and on.Come on-most of us were thinking along the same lines, even if we did know that Obama is a fan of the free market! Aside from the photo collectors in GD: Presidency there are few here who celebrate daily.

[chimpymustgo]

20. Wow. Great perspective and post.

[sendero]

21. I thought pretty much the same thing

... boy was I in for a surprise.

Obama will literally have a failed presidency, that is he will not serve a second term, if he succumbs to the austerity hawks and starts chopping.

Because the economy will sink at that time. Now some could rightly posit that no matter how long the stimulus continues, when it stops there will be blood, and that MIGHT be true.

But unlike Afghanistan, which will suck the minute we leave no matter how long we stay, the economy MIGHT get its footing with a couple more years of government spending. Might is a lot better than certain depression.

[shireen]

25. +1

[ooglymoogly]

32. Yes we did.

However O was not my first, second, or even third choice...but after the primaries, I threw everything I had behind him. That trepidation turns out to be soooooo justified. There was that nagging tug on the brain of flim flammery, of three card monte, of a politician, being all things to us progressives and soothing us with the things we needed, rightly, to hear....all gone in the wash of winning. The first trashing of the constitution began the slow march to total distrust, still hoping against hope, but alas, to no avail. We were had by very skillful deceit which now doubles the anger to no longer a simmer, but to a boil.

[izzybeans]

8. Someone's been listening to too many market fairies.

"I saw it for myself, it was a burning bush. It told me the market commanded I do nothing and it would take care of itself just fine."

"I didn't know the market fairy was a red head."

"Yep. He's got freckles and everything. Welp, back to doin' nuthin."

[Donnachaidh]

9. I actually watched that drek-filled piece, and would have thrown a shoe if not for Krugman

Mini Snaffle-a- pugus annoys me most times, but his *perky propagandist* pieces are really ringing so WRONG lately I have to turn it off. I can't afford a new set right now.

Him and Andrea *Some People Say* Mitchell on msnbc makes me hide heavy objects from flinging view. Really really getting tired of the propaganda pushing.

[Arkana]

10. He's basing this all on hearsay from George Snuffleupagus?

Come on, Krugman--you should know better. This is the same guy who wasted an entire primary debate asking Obama if he loved America.

[BurtWorm]

12. You think there's no one in the WH who's a deficit hawk?

Then why isn't the WH going full force on supplementing the stimulus? I think there probably is at least one key person with a lot of power :cough:rom emanuel:cough: on the political side, as Krugman says Stephanopoulos suggests, who is putting obstacles in the way of the economists who know the deficit is not the problem.

[WillyT]

11. K & R !!!

:kick:

[amborin]

14. K&R

[Canuckistanian]

15. Gee. a clueless political person in the White House

Now WHO could that be?

[Skittles]

16. they have infiltrated DU too

in droves

[Hawkowl]

17. The word is "infestation"

Infestation as in vermin. Infiltration sounds like intelligence operatives. Intelligence would be the antithesis of the infestation.

[Skittles]

18. well, they have indeed infested DU

[berni_mccoy]

19. What? Krugman is calling Stephanopoulos a "careful guy"?!? Poor Krugman

his character judgement is a bit off-kilter today.

[chimpymustgo]

22. The comments are quite good. Here's one:

-edit-

24.
Adams
Denver
July 6th, 2010
4:45 pm

"...what we do know is that they have undermined their own message at every turn"

What, again? I'm shocked. Shocked I tell you.

Pretty much what they do on everything, isn't it. Public option, torture, habeas, wiretapping, DOMA, DADT, Dawn Johnsen (Rahm's gotta have that echo chamber at Justice), EFCA, cramdown, the list goes on and on. Where was the WH on UCB extension? The WH political team actively and aggressively undermines its own progressive message on all the meaningless verbiage necessary to win liberal hearts and minds at election time.

But wait. They whipped and twisted arms on war funding and the bank bailout, and their limp wristed stimulus package. See, they can do it if they really want to.

We're not dealing with a failure of understanding here. We're dealing with proactive political will: a self-conscious, deliberate effort to promote the big lie (deficit crisis) using the Republican perfected method of rote repitition of little lies. And it's working. The polls are shifting on jobs vs deficit. This morning on NPR I heard the unqualified statement that many economists believe further stimulus is necessary in the short term, but Congress will not act on further deficits because the public is more concerned about deficits. That's a bald lie. Congress can't act because Republicans are a monolithic block of votes that will block any attempt to make things better before the elections.

Paul, your voice is critical in several senses, but you seem to be consistently dragged unwillingly to the obvious conclusion that the Obama Administration is doing what it wants to do. You seem at times seduced by Obama's obvious intelligence, and reserve your most acerbic comments for the stupid, especially the macroeconomically stupid. This is a natural consequence of your intellectual predispositions, of course. But we're not dealing with the stupid here.

I hope your developing righteous cynicism is out ahead of the biggest double-cross of the century: The Cat Food Commission's "reform" of Social Security. The fix is in. See Pelosi's prior commitment to bring their recommendations to a vote. Coming soon.

-edit-

[ooglymoogly]

30. Indeed....and the end of the democratic party for

the foreseeable future. It almost looks like a plan.

[depakid]

26. Doesn't shock me, Paul -overwhelming evidence shows me that this administration

is infected by insular group think to the point of becoming dysfunctional and tone deaf.

[MannyGoldstein]

27. Frankly, Larry Summers is not very bright

Summers is a friend of a friend - based on some conversations over beer (the universal truth serum), Summers seems to be brilliant in some ways but has enormous blind spots. This sounds like something that Summers would be pushing - believable on a certain level, but totally wrong.

[ooglymoogly]

31. Larry Summers could pass as a thug, unnoticed on The

Supranoes and would not even have to study for the part. Its as if the script was written with him in mind.

[bongbong]

29. Deficit Problem?

We MUST have a deficit problem! Interest rates are at all-time lows! :sarcasm: