Speaking Of Krugman... The K-Man Nails The Trumpster

Maybe it's ridiculous of me to react that way, but this brought a smile to my face:

New York Times columnist Paul Krugman was blunt Monday when he speculated that real estate mogul Donald Trump was polling so well within the GOP presidential field because he's a "loudmouth racist."

"[Trump]'s a belligerent, loudmouth racist with not an ounce of compassion for less fortunate people," Krugman said in an interview with Bloomberg TV's Joe Weisenthal. "In other words, he's exactly the kind of person the Republican base consists of and identifies with."

The Nobel laureate further predicted that the 2016 election cycle would shake out like a repeat of the horserace that took place during the 2012 Republican presidential primaries. In his estimation, the GOP establishment had "lost control" over the current crop of candidates.

...

Next week, Krugman reveals the GOP for what it really is...

Krugman: No Happy Days

Krugman, just after the shutdown ended:

The government is reopening, and we didn’t default on our debt. Happy days are here again, right?

Well, no. For one thing, Congress has only voted in a temporary fix, and we could find ourselves going through it all over again in a few months. ...

... the economic damage from obstruction and extortion didn’t start when the G.O.P. shut down the government. ... And the damage is large: Unemployment in America would be far lower than it is if the House majority hadn’t done so much to undermine recovery.

...

Yet it would be a mistake to conclude that Macroeconomic Advisers overstated the case. The main driver of their estimates is the sharp fall since 2010 in discretionary spending as a share of G.D.P. — that is, in spending that, unlike spending on programs like Social Security and Medicare, must be approved by Congress each year. Since the biggest problem the U.S. economy faces is still inadequate overall demand, this fall in spending has depressed both growth and employment.

What’s more, the report doesn’t take into account the effect of other bad policies that are a more or less direct result of the Republican takeover in 2010. Two big bads stand out: letting payroll taxes rise, and sharply reducing aid to the unemployed even though there are still three times as many people looking for work as there are job openings. Both actions have reduced the purchasing power of American workers, weakening consumer demand and further reducing growth.

...

[Bolds mine. - SB]

The damage is large. Some of the damage is permanent. Most of the damage falls on our society's most disadvantaged people. And Republicans are gearing up to do it all over again in a few months. Do you still insist "both sides do it"? I'm sorry; I don't care what pundit told you on what TV outlet, it's still a baldfaced lie. Republicans, and only Republicans, and only one species of Republicans, do it, damn them.

---

On the positive side, Prose Before Hos has gathered some great cartoons, and quotes the following tweet:

Krugman On How We Got Here

... in his column titled The Boehner Bunglers.

(H/T ellroon.)