Krugman: GOP Literally Taking Food from Mouths of Hungry Children. Time to Get Really, Really Angry.

[Hissyspit]

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/31/opinion/from-the-mouths-of-babes.html?smid=tw-NytimesKrugman&seid=auto&_r=0

OP-ED COLUMNIST
From the Mouths of Babes
By PAUL KRUGMAN
Published: May 30, 2013

- snip -

First, as millions of workers lost their jobs through no fault of their own, many families turned to food stamps to help them get by
— and while food aid is no substitute for a good job, it did significantly mitigate their misery. Food stamps were especially helpful to children who would otherwise be living in extreme poverty, defined as an income less than half the official poverty line.

But there’s more. Why is our economy depressed? Because many players in the economy slashed spending at the same time, while relatively few players were willing to spend more. And because the economy is not like an individual household — your spending is my income, my spending is your income — the result was a general fall in incomes and plunge in employment. We desperately needed (and still need) public policies to promote higher spending on a temporary basis — and the expansion of food stamps, which helps families living on the edge and let them spend more on other necessities, is just such a policy.

Indeed, estimates from the consulting firm Moody’s Analytics suggest that each dollar spent on food stamps in a depressed economy raises G.D.P. by about $1.70 — which means, by the way, that much of the money laid out to help families in need actually comes right back to the government in the form of higher revenue.

Wait, we’re not done yet. Food stamps greatly reduce food insecurity among low-income children, which, in turn, greatly enhances their chances of doing well in school and growing up to be successful, productive adults. So food stamps are in a very real sense an investment in the nation’s future — an investment that in the long run almost surely reduces the budget deficit, because tomorrow’s adults will also be tomorrow’s taxpayers.

So what do Republicans want to do with this paragon of programs? First, shrink it; then, effectively kill it.

- snip -

But I wonder whether even Republicans really believe that story — or at least are confident enough in their diagnosis to justify policies that more or less literally take food from the mouths of hungry children. As I said, there are times when cynicism just doesn’t cut it; this is a time to get really, really angry.

MORE[p]

[Cha]

1. thanks Hissyspit

[BlueJazz]

2. Oh..I think DUer's are constantly angry at the GOP. They give us fresh "Pissed-off" ammunition..

..every time they open their mouths.

[JEB]

3. Will cutting off of noses to spite their faces never end?

[JHB]

25. Not when they think the only noses getting cut belong to "those people"...

...and not their own.

[lark]

49. They are not cutting their noses, they are the 1%.

They don't think that the 99% are really people since they don't matter a bit to them and that's whose noses are being removed. Of course they CAN'T lower the totally ridiculous subsidies, why that would be inhumane in their eyes since the rich and their rich companies are the only ones they see as actual people.

[JEB]

60. Not only greedy but stupid as well.

Sooner or later they too depend on a healthy functioning economy. At least to keep the serfs from revolting. The 1% is overdue to feel some pain.

[grilled onions]

4. They Only Tolerate Programs That Benefit Them

They cannot fathom any idea of helping those who do not have what they have. In their warped minds they believe every dime they have they earned. They do not remember the money they inherited, the jobs "given" to them that gave them a huge start. They feel if you are born poor--you deserve it. If you are poor, out of work, homeless you should be punished for your bad investments, lack of financial vision. It must make them feel superior as they bad mouth most of the population while they stuff themselves at the country club. They don't even realize that the work they do on Capitol Hill(and there is very little of it these days) makes life more difficult for everyone who is down and out. Every day they create bills that eliminate the very help those of us who are at the bottom(or damn close)--the working poor, the disabled, the seniors-the list goes on. They somehow feel that we should be able to do without money,food or a space to live on. Every dime we get, they feel is a dollar being ripped from their bulging pockets. They claim we are envious of what they have and want to continue stealing from them at an alarming rate. If we are so wealthy how many of us can they find have investment accounts in the Bahamas? How many of us can they find having more then one home(many don't even have one). How many have more then one car(or just one that actually runs). Sadly many of us have only a bike or a wheel chair as our rolling stock. Sadly many would love to actually live in a space no larger then the average garage. Sadly most of us would love to have enough "investments" to be able to feed our families,pay the utilities and keep a roof over our head. Sadly I don't see any change anytime soon since the very people who can give us change--give us some hope are the very ones who refuse to do so.

[kairos12]

39. Unfortunately, that is exactly what I think

[hue]

54. Great synopsis.The only thing that gives them the feeling that they are alive is cruelty & control.

[mckara]

5. Too Late, I've Been Angry Since the Reagan Administration

They're f'n' assholes and that never changes!

[Mnemosyne]

10. +1,000,000 brazillion! nt

[Doctor_J]

12. exactly

Come on Dr Krugman. Most of us went from angry to enraged years ago.

[HiPointDem]

26. we were outraged before krugman was.

[Hotler]

47. If people are enraged how come we don't have...

tens of thousands in the streets protesting????

[Doctor_J]

48. Because they saw the futility of the war protests and OWS

standing in the streets accomplishes nothing. Sooner or later we're going to take the fight where it might be won - Big Media. However, in order to successful it's going to have to be so comprehensive and so enthusiastic that it will be decades before they even think of polluting our radios & TVs again.

[lark]

50. That won't work either

MSM is owned by the 1% so will not help us one bit.
They are a big part of the problem.

[calimary]

14. Me too, mckara! I'm so fed up with republi-CONS I could just spit up.

There! What'd I tell you?

[BrotherIvan]

20. ^^This!^^

Reagan killed this country, yet so many worship him. It is a conundrum that hopefully future historians will repair.

[Skittles]

51. THANK YOU

some of us have been angry a very long time

[pangaia]

56. + 1000

[Beowulf]

6. WWJS

Who would Jesus starve?

[Dragonfli]

9. Why the poor of course (Republican Jesus, the other one would feed not starve people)

Republican Jesus shares many superficial qualities with the biblical Jesus, and in fact a minority of historians believe the two are actually the same figure. However, a growing body of evidence suggests that Republican Jesus was actually created in 1964 aboard a Goldwater campaign bus east of Flagstaff from the bones of Aldophus B. Huxley, and was recognized as the one true Republican messiah in 1980, in which role he continues to this day. Between 1980 and 1988, Republican Jesus was famously portrayed by the 50s B-movie actor Ronald Reagan.

Some of the more significant differences between the two Jesuses' philosophies:
The biblical Jesus preached at length about renouncing worldly possessions and giving to the poor. Republican Jesus believes that such handouts merely encourage the poor to be lazy, and that Christian charity is better practiced through massive tax breaks for the wealthiest citizens, who could then be expected to let the money "tinkle down" to the poor in the form of honest, if low-paying, jobs at upright Republican institutions like Wal-Mart.

[BrotherIvan]

21. Please expand this into a full post

It needs to be read and sadly laughed at.

[Dragonfli]

24. Here have at it,

http://uncyclopedia.wikia.com/wiki/Republican_Jesus
I was just riffin' with part of this, use the source (provide the link) and edit together an OP from it!

I don't like writing OPs, I don't like the extra "need to be here a long time" commitment required to answer everyone in an OP. I'm in and out too much.

[BrotherIvan]

31. Cool, thanks

There's a lot of truth in that funny

[JustAnotherGen]

27. Ha!

[Berlin Expat]

42. A portrait of

Republican Jesus for us to ponder upon.

<>

[calimary]

17. Welcome to DU, Beowulf! Exactly!

Good to have you with us!

Indeed. Who WOULD Jesus starve?

I bet none of them, while busy calling themselves good Christians and proclaiming Christ as their Savior, never once quote Him. They go straight to Leviticus (WAAAAAAAAY before Christ touched down on earth) and then directly to that miserable passage by St. Paul (the hard-ass, who came a few generations AFTER Christ touched down on earth and then lifted back up out of it) that these assholes quote all the time - the one about how "if you don't work, you don't eat."

They call themselves Christians alright. And they proclaim Christ as their Savior, and insist everybody else everywhere fall in line behind Him (and of course behind themselves too), but they NEVER quote Him. There's NEVER even a word about the Beatitudes or anything else. Certainly nothing about "the least of these" and the interests of the poor and outcast. Not one word. NOTHING about "feed My sheep" or "whatever you do to these, you do to Me" or any of that.

They're an absolute disgrace.

[Beowulf]

18. Thanks, calimary, but actually

I've been a member since 2001. I just don't post very often.

[Dragonfli]

7. Mission Accomplished I'M ANGRY!

Hopefully the masses will see this and recognize them for the vile sociopaths they are! Can we stop reaching out to these scum now? Can we stop trying to find a middle ground between rational policy and starving children and old people? I don't want to hear about pragmatic centrist compromises that would only take food from half the children that need it!! That will make me angry too.

[ElsewheresDaughter]

8. I AM

?

[MotherPetrie]

11. K&R

And Obama is trying to NEGOTIATE with these domestic terrorists.

[Permanut]

13. Krugman is a voice of sanity..

in a world where the screaming wingnuts get most of the press.

[SleeplessinSoCal]

15. Why not use the term "Neoliberalism" again?

For one very good reason - because "liberal" is so disparaged by the right. Many have no clue about what it means. Maybe it should be resurrected for the purpose of educating and properly putting the blame on it, where it belongs.

"Neoliberalism is a political philosophy whose advocates support economic liberalization, free trade and open markets, privatization, deregulation, and decreasing the size of the public sector while increasing the role of the private sector in modern society.

The term was introduced in the late 1930s by European liberal scholars to promote a new form of liberalism after interest in classical liberalism had declined in Europe. In the decades that followed, neoliberal theory tended to be at variance with the more laissez-faire doctrine of classical liberalism and promoted instead a market economy under the guidance and rules of a strong state, a model which came to be known as the social market economy. In the sixties, usage of the term "neoliberal" heavily declined. When the term was reintroduced in the following decades, the meaning had shifted. The term neoliberal is now normally associated with laissez-faire economic policies, and is used mainly by those who are critical of legislative market reform."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neoliberalism

[BlancheSplanchnik]

16. giant kick for Paul Krugman.

and a million recs!

[limpyhobbler]

19. we probably should revolt or something. nt

[Puzzledtraveller]

29. until we click on the next thread

[AzDar]

22. K & R

[RainDog]

23. k&r n/t

[Scuba]

28. Moody's on economic stimulus ...

[ellie]

30. Just thinking about

people going hungry in this country makes me extremely angry. Extremely.

[DhhD]

34. Statistics on Hunger in America (states down in link).

http://feedingamerica.org/hunger-in-america/hunger-facts/hunger-and-poverty-statistics.aspx

[Laelth]

32. k&r for Paul Krugman. Interesting comments follow article. n/t

-Laelth

[Marr]

33. Yep-- people sometimes say they wonder when the wealthy will stop demanding more.

If they ever do, it'll be years and miles beyond the point where there are starving children in the streets.

[sulphurdunn]

35. The basic Republican

politician is possibly the lowest kind of human that American culture produces, with the exception of pedophiles.

[rickyhall]

36. WalMart

WalMart should come in and lend some support since most of our foodstamps goes to THEM!

[WillyT]

37. K & R !!!

[blkmusclmachine]

38. Worthless eaters.

Stand down for the "savvy businessmen," aka the Too Big To Jail.

[pitchforx]

40. The flip side of Food Stamps

You don't hear it much, but the Food Stamp program acts as a stimulus for farmers and food producers as well as feeding the hungry.

[redqueen]

41. There are no words.

But I doubt anyone here is surprised. This is the spirit of the modern GOP. Taking food from hungry families to finance tax cuts for the rich.

[Lifelong Protester]

43. K & R from one of the perpetually enraged

I work in a school. I see it every day. I'm so sick of the mean-spiritedness in this country against the poor and children (and women, and minorities, and the list goes on...)

[JDPriestly]

44. K&R. Best article Krugman has ever written.

When you get to the foundation, being a Democrat, being a liberal, is about having compassion.

[Hotler]

45. Americans are too lazy to get angry. n/t

[Rex]

46. Getting angry won't help, they don't give a shit.

The GOP lacks the 'shame' and 'conflict of interest' genes.

[tclambert]

52. If Republicans get rid of food stamps, how will Wal-Mart workers eat?

[Egalitarian Thug]

53. 10/5/1986 was the day to get angry.

12/12/2000 was the day to revolt.

[hue]

55. Indeed they could care less how we feel. Yet they do fear our POTUS. K&R!!

[ReRe]

57. Oh, I'm angry, alright...

... I don't know why, but this weekend, I am unusually "sitting beside of myself", as Johnny Five would say. It's a jumble of those lesser feelings. Like sadness, maybe a touch of melancholy, anger, hopelessness. But anger being the most intense. Why can't we call on the Red Cross to feed the hungry in our society? Or charge the 1% with a poverty tax which they can't wiggle out of. No going around the laws, no loopholes around the tax.

[Niceguy1]

58. it doesn't become lae unless the president signs it

so if Obama signed into law then he supports the same thing right?

[Liberal_in_LA]

59. kick

[blackspade]

61. Krugman FTW.

[prole_for_peace]

62. Did anyone else notice the exceptional quality of most of the comments?

The readers are intelligent and are able to express themselves fully with the written word (something I always have problems doing). Many of them seem as "column" worthy as Krugman.

Your assignment: compare and contrast the comments on this article with the comments on any Fox Snooze article.

[Fuddnik]

63. You have to cut these 28 Republicans some slack.

They have "D"s next to their names. They voted for it too!


Baucus, Bennet, Cardin, Carper, Coons, Donnelly, Durbin, Feinstein, Franken, Hagan, Harkin, Heinrich, Heitkamp, Johnson, Kaine, Klobuchar, Landrieu, Manchin, McCaskill, Mikulski, Nelson, Pryor, Rockefeller, Shaheen, Stabenow, Tester, Mark Udall and Warner:

[rickyhall]

64. Not me

I won't cut the Repugs some slack. I'd rather condemn the Blue Dogs who went along with it.

[Fuddnik]

65. That's the 28 listed above.

[gulliver]

67. Krugman singles out Republicans.

I'll stick with his take.

[pitchforx]

68. NO SLACK- they should know better

and don't let them forget!

[grasswire]

66. how can comey "believe in the right thing" and also support crooks like Romney?

A disconnect there!!

[LittleGirl]

69. no surprise there

Krugman must read DU because all of these things he says are right here, every day, every month, every year that I've been a member of DU. No surprise about this column.