There was a truly incredible column today from the NY Times resident liberal economist Paul Krugman explaining how people in the US need not worry about becoming like Greece. “We’re not Greece”, he says, which turns out to be the most accurate statement in his entire column.
He then goes on to blame our current financial problems on everything except the bloated spending that put us in the situation we’re currently in.
Of course he gives no thoughtful discussion at all of whether we may actually be spending too much money…rather focusing on our not paying enough taxes. And then blames that on conservatives.
...bear in mind, also, that taxes have lagged behind spending partly thanks to a deliberate political strategy, that of “starve the beast”: conservatives have deliberately deprived the government of revenue in an attempt to force the spending cuts they now insist are necessary. ...
So, it’s all conservatives’ fault, huh? Or rather the fault of American voters who feel they already pay too much in taxes?
He also goes on to suggest that other primary reason for impending doom is because health care costs too much.
...health care costs will rise in the future as they have in the past. This tells us that the key to our fiscal future is improving the efficiency of our health care system — which is, you may recall, something the Obama administration has been trying to do...
