"Serious" Linda Parks versus "Hippie" Paul Krugman
by David Atkins
Ballyhooed "independent" (former Republican) candidate for Congress in CA26 Linda Parks, endosed by the L.A. Times and beloved of the chattering class, on unemployment and the economy:
Congress needs to stop the brinkmanship politics and work together to balance our nation’s budget and restore our bond rating. This will give businesses the certainty they need to invest in capital projects and expand their workforce. This in turn will create demand for goods and services that will buoy our economy. If Congress can't pass a budget on time, they shouldn't be paid.
Efforts should be made towards restoring our nation’s bond rating which will reduce costs for needed infrastructure such as roads, bridges, levies and water conveyance. These projects will also create jobs and stimulate the economy.
Meanwhile, noted dirty hippie and and non-serious partisan Paul Krugman, responding to the notion that the nation's bond rating affects employment:
Gosh, if you believe the people saying that you would have lost a lot of money. I know people have lost a lot of money doing that. The bond markets are willing to lend America -- the US government -- long-term money at about 1.7 percent as of right now. That’s ridiculously low. The index bonds that are protected from inflation actually have a negative interest rate. The bond markets are saying they’re worried about economic stagnation. They’re worried there aren’t going to be investment opportunities because the demand is so weak. So they’re going to park their money in US government debt, which is considered safe. The last thing you should be worrying about, at least according to the bond market, is those deficits. Those are not the problem right now.
One of these people is ignorant about economics and should be ridiculed by journalists as a dangerous amateur without a clue. The other is a Nobel Prize Winner in economics.
I'll leave it to you to determine which one would receive the most newspaper editorial endorsements in a race for Congress, and what that says about the state of the American press.
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