Paul Krugman has no interest in rational persuasion or the civility that goes along with it. He wants power and he's determined to get it, whatever the consequences. What in the world is he doing in academia, where civility reigns (or is supposed to)?
Krugman writes:
It’s not nice to say this (but the truth is rarely nice): whatever they may say, Republicans are not concerned, above all, about the deficit. In fact, it’s not clear that they care about the deficit at all; they’re trying to use deficit concerns to push through their goal of dismantling the Great Society and if possible the New Deal; they have stated explicitly that they want to reduce taxes on high incomes to pre-New-Deal levels. And it’s an article of faith on their part that low taxes have magical effects on the economy.
This is beyond cynical. I can easily change it to this:
It’s not nice to say this (but the truth is rarely nice): whatever they may say, Democrats are not concerned, above all, about poor people. In fact, it’s not clear that they care about poor people at all; they’re trying to use poverty concerns to push through their goal of enlarging the role of government in our lives; they have stated explicitly that they want to raise taxes on high incomes. And it’s an article of faith on their part that high taxes have no adverse effects on the economy.
As you can see, two can play this game.
Keith Burgess-Jackson, J.D., Ph.D. 