Krugman’s “Frugal Government” – He Wants to Spend More
October 11, 2010 by Website Administrator
In his latest article in the New York Times, Krugman argues that the government has failed to stimulate growth because we haven’t spent enough money. This is absolutely astonishing and simply blind to our fiscal situation.
Apparently, the $13 trillion in debt and annual deficits of $1.4 trillion aren’t high enough for Paul Krugman’s liking. It’s also fascinating to hear Krugman and fellow big government proponents claim the stimulus was not big enough, distinguishing things like aid to state and local governments from direct federal spending. In both cases, the government takes money from the taxpayer and spends it. Someone please explain how this is different.
Some more of Krugman’s outlandish claims include dismissing ObamaCare as adding to the size of government because it hasn’t been implemented yet, and that “the creation of big bureaucracies and major new programs…hasn’t taken place.” What about the brand new, powerful Consumer Financial Protection Bureau or the CLASS Act (the new long-term care entitlement system that Sen. Conrad called a giant ponzi scheme), just to name a few?
Mr. Krugman caps his argument by even pointing to the fact that, on the whole, government employees have decreased under Obama. Is this supposed to make us forget that government employees earn on average nearly double their private counterpart? Or that the Obama Administration has done its best to make sure billions of taxpayer dollars go directly to unionized federal employees (e.g., $26 billion state aid bill or 2/3 of stimulus dollars went to the Department of Education)? Or that unemployment benefits are now sitting at 99 weeks right now and likely to extended in a lame duck session if the Democrats have their way?
These claims just don’t pass the laugh test. Instinctively, Americans understand that government is too big, too intrusive and too expensive. Krugman can write about the “frugal government” till his hand falls off; that won’t change the reality that we have a real spending problem in this country and the people are ready for a change.
