Friday, December 7, 2012

DOES BOBBY UNDERSTAND THE FISCAL CLIFF?

Paul Krugman is fairly certain Bobby Jindal doesn't understand the fiscal cliff, based on a recent op-ed by the Louisiana governor.
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"You really have to wonder how someone who's a major political figure could be this uninformed," the Nobel Prize-winning economist wrote in the New York Times blog post.

Krugman wrote that Jindal fails to mention that "the looming problem is spending cuts and tax increases that will shrink the deficit too soon."

The fiscal cliff is a set of $1.2 trillion in tax hikes and spending cuts scheduled to take place on Jan. 1 if the government does not reach a deal to avert it. Economists warn that it could cause a recession by slashing government spending and raising taxes too quickly, but Krugman argues that Jindal doesn't seem to understand this.
I wonder what exactly Jindal does understand as he sets about destroying institutions in Louisiana.  Despite his Ivy-League university education and Rhodes Scholarship sponsored study at Oxford University, he seems to have only a dim understanding of his policies and their consequences.  He travels the country expounding his views, and the media see him as a shining light in the new Republican Party, but neither the media nor the Republican Party seem yet to have arrived at reality-based thinking.  How can it be that politicians and the media either ignore or make only feeble efforts to discover the facts of a situation or policy before holding forth? 

Thanks to Elizabeth for the link.

2 comments:

  1. It simply boggles my mind that the GOP thinks that this man thinks he could be POTUS. I think there's a virus out there that has attacked Republican brains.

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    Replies
    1. The GOP seems to have done away with critical thinking altogether. My guess is that Jindal will be eliminated early in the primaries if he makes the run. Louisiana will be further down the path of failure in 3 years time, and eventually, even conservatives will take note. On the other hand, we could be wrong, and Republicans may take the suicide path and give Jindal the nomination.

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