After Paul Krugman appeared on Morning Joe a couple weeks ago and schooled everyone at the table on the absurdity of imposing intellectually-violent austerity on the American economy and social safety net– just to save the national debt immediately! immediately! from a bleak, debtless future with nothing to live for– Joe Scarborough took to his blog to insult Nobel Prize Economist Paul Krugman as a person, and a professor of economics, spewing out in the first paragraph:
Paul Krugman is a man obsessed. The ideologue who infamously said last week that America need not worry about its entitlement crisis until health care programs melt down in 2025 has written yet another blog post hyper-focusing on his one Morning Joe appearance. Now he is trying to use a fellow Princeton colleague as a human shield, of sorts, against this most radical of notions.
Most radical of notions? That’s like a blind man berating a guy wearing glasses. Republicans, like Joe Scarborough, who gets to spout his views and concern-troll every morning, three hours a day, five days a week– are proposing we cut, cut, cut, now– entitlement programs that are solid through the next decade. Which, to Republican partisan hacks, like Joe Scarborough– this is not at all radical. This is what a “conservative” approach looks like in the year 2013. Cut programs that are safe right now, or cut them in the future? Better cut right now!
He proceeds:
Unfortunately for Krugman, Alan Blinder has never subscribed to the flighty notion that Washington should ignore the Medicare crisis until its collapse in 2025. Far from taking a glib approach to our long-term debt crisis, Professor Blinder uses an Atlantic Monthly piece to warn of America’s “truly horrendous budget problems” in the future brought about by health care costs so large that “spending cuts must bear most of the burden.”
Professor Blinder continues on this point later in the Atlantic piece saying, “The government can cover no more than a small fraction of the projected deficits by raising taxes. Sorry, Democrats, but the Republicans are right on this one.”
So, it’s Paul Krugman– The ideologue– “A man obsessed” who is deserving of such insult? And that last bit about, “sorry Democrats… but the republicans are right on this one” bullshit about raising taxes really stings because President Clinton raised taxes on the wealthy and we grew our way to prosperity after years of paying down debt left over from the Reagan 80′s.
But in totally misquoting and cherry-picking another economist’s words, It’s “Professor Blinder.” To Scarborough, Professor Krugman is evidently unworthy of his proper title. No respect– which is weird because Morning Joe Scarborough, in an attempt to doggy paddle to safety, drowns in the very next sentence, writing,
“Mr. Blinder is also correct in saying that America’s long-term debt crisis cannot be ignored indefinitely even if large deficits can be sustained comfortably for much of the next decade.“
That’s a long way to go to be so redundant, and disrespectful for so little gain. “Even if large deficits can be sustained comfortably for much of the next decade…” we can’t ignore it forever! This is Hack-Troll 101 stuff.
It’s important to keep in mind that the deficit, wars, and the people most directly responsible for putting us in this position, were people and policies that Joe Scarborough voted for– but that would be admitting that you are wrong almost all of the time.
In his typically harmless and playful return that Joe mistakes for “obsessed,” Krugman writes:
On both sides of the Atlantic, the austerians seem to be freaking out. And that has to be good news, an indication that they realize, at some level, that they’re losing the debate.
First up, the sad story of Joe Scarborough, whose response to my anti-austerian appearance on his show has been a bizarre campaign to convince the world that absolutely nobody of consequence shares my views[...]
So in the latest twist, JoScar is citing my Princeton colleague Alan Blinder, who he claims is totally at odds with my position. Hmm. The article he’s citing, bears the following headline:
Not so different from me.
Professor Krugman went on to say, “As I said, these signs of desperation are gratifying. Unfortunately, these people have already done immense damage, and still retain the power to do a lot more.”
Point, Krugman.
Someone tell Rush Limbaugh. He’s out on the ledge.