The President Surrenders - Editorial

[Gaybutton]

A tip-of-the-hat goes to Jomtienbob for sending this:
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The President Surrenders

By PAUL KRUGMAN
Published: July 31, 2011

A deal to raise the federal debt ceiling is in the works. If it goes through, many commentators will declare that disaster was avoided. But they will be wrong.

For the deal itself, given the available information, is a disaster, and not just for President Obama and his party. It will damage an already depressed economy; it will probably make America’s long-run deficit problem worse, not better; and most important, by demonstrating that raw extortion works and carries no political cost, it will take America a long way down the road to banana-republic status.

Start with the economics. We currently have a deeply depressed economy. We will almost certainly continue to have a depressed economy all through next year. And we will probably have a depressed economy through 2013 as well, if not beyond.

The worst thing you can do in these circumstances is slash government spending, since that will depress the economy even further. Pay no attention to those who invoke the confidence fairy, claiming that tough action on the budget will reassure businesses and consumers, leading them to spend more. It doesn’t work that way, a fact confirmed by many studies of the historical record.


Full article: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/01/opini ... iling.html

[Jomtienbob]

Just one more nail in the coffin of the Amerika I remember. See the sex for college posting just made for more proof, and the Robert Reich article on today's vote in congress for even more.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/08/0 ... 15209.html

What a depressing morning.

Is there a challenger from the left for Obama? I am waiting for Superman.