Krugman Urges Obama to Reject Deal on Fiscal Cliff

Accuses GOP of economic blackmail

In his brand new op-ed at the NYT, Paul Krugman makes the loudest case yet that Obama shouldn't rush into any kind of big "deal" with the GOP on averting the fiscal cliff.

Liberals have been going in this direction for awhile, arguing two things: Hitting the fiscal cliff would not be a huge catastrophe right away, and the GOP has lost a lot of leverage, so there's no reason to cave to their insistence on everything.

Comments

[Calvin Coolidge]

"We" can't afford to refrain from taking more money from rich people any longer! The alternative is draconian cuts in the planned rate of growth for spending on programs that benefit the constituencies who just re-elected the President!

Line up every rich citizen in the "1%" that we have. Hang them, then have the IRS confiscate the entire estate. Three months later, you are broke again and your constituents are still clamoring for their "free" stuff. Line up the new 1%, hang them, confiscate their estates, and you can keep going for another two months.

This scheme does wonders for social mobility, but eventually your top tier of victims doesn't even provide enough loot to pay the hangman.