New York Times columnist Paul Krugman on Friday said the reason so many Republicans are opposed to the Federal Reserve's new monetary stimulus scheme of quantitative easing is because they really want the economy to stay weak in order to harm President Obama.
Readers are advised to strap themselves in tightly in preparation for the paranoid lunacy on display:
What do the government of China, the government of Germany and the Republican Party have in common? They’re all trying to bully the Federal Reserve into calling off its efforts to create jobs. And the motives of all three are highly suspect.
After somewhat explaining the plan and why he thinks it's necessary, Krugman made with the conspiracy theories:
So what’s really motivating the G.O.P. attack on the Fed? Mr. Bernanke and his colleagues were clearly caught by surprise, but the budget expert Stan Collender predicted it all. Back in August, he warned Mr. Bernanke that “with Republican policy makers seeing economic hardship as the path to election glory,” they would be “opposed to any actions taken by the Federal Reserve that would make the economy better.” In short, their real fear is not that Fed actions will be harmful, it is that they might succeed. [...]
No doubt some of Mr. Bernanke’s critics are motivated by sincere intellectual conviction, but the core reason for the attack on the Fed is self-interest, pure and simple. China and Germany want America to stay uncompetitive; Republicans want the economy to stay weak as long as there’s a Democrat in the White House.
Let's think about this for a moment.
If Krugman were correct, and the goal of the GOP was to sabotage the recovery to harm Obama, then wouldn't Republicans be pushing for allowing the Bush tax cuts to expire on December 31?
Certainly, the best way to tank this fragile economy would be to usher in the largest tax hike in history on New Year's Day.
As it's Republicans that want all the tax cuts to be made permanent in order to give businesses and consumers the dollars they need to make purchases and investments, it is specious to say the GOP are trying to undermine the recovery.
Sadly, this is just an extension of the media's ad nauseam claim that if you oppose Obama's policies it's because you're racist.
All this Nobel laureate has done is give that silly postulate a financial flare.
