Paul Krugman Defends Michelle Malkin

New York Times:

No, really. She;s been getting a lot of grief from progressive bloggers for saying that extended unemployment benefits cause higher unemployment, and attributing that view to Larry Katz, who has gone to some pains to say that he believes no such thing.

Read the whole story: New York Times

Comments

[JohnSawyer]

Krugman IS defending Malkin--for being, as he says in his article, "no crazier than what’s coming out of some of our leading universiti­es."

[chromodynamics]

Woo Hoo! Paul Krugman is panellist at Worldcon in Montreal! I'll be seeing him in person on Thursday.

[watchTVgetSTUPID]

Why is H^P deliberately maligning Paul Krugman? After reading the whole article and associated reference, there is no way Krugman cn be seen as endorsing Michelle.

To say Paul supports her is beyond any reasonable interpretation of Paul K's article. I can only conclude this smearing is no oversight ... it is deliberate. I do not understand why Why is this web site has stooped so low.

Rachel Weiner, please explain yourself for filing this on Arianna's web site..

[miles120]

Uh, I think you're missing the tone of the piece. No one is maligning Krugman - it's more tongue-in-cheek.

[Layman23]

Is Michelle Malkin the poster vietnamese girl that was affected by Orange 13?

[LetsGetToWork]

Super scrubbers removed a lot of posts on this one. Quit being so biased.

[watchTVgetSTUPID]

Why is Arianna's web site deliberately maligning Paul Krugman? After reading the whole article and associated reference, there is no way Krugman can be seen as endorsing Michelle.

To say Paul supports her is beyond any reasonable interpretation of Paul K's article. I can only conclude this smearing is no oversight ... it is deliberate. I do not understand why this web site has stooped so low.

Rachel Weiner, please explain yourself for filing this on Arianna's web site..

[Knowitall]

I can't see where Krugman was actually defending Malkin. But the notion that any substantial number of people would PREFER to live on unemployment is as laughable as the prevalence of the so-called "welfare queen" myth. Of course there are people who are going to game the UI system, if they can get away with it, but why do conservatives find this so much more aggregious than what a Madoff or an Abramoff does?

One $1 million bonus which these Wall Street types think they've "earned", would pay the wages of 50 (fifty) workers making $10 an hour, for a year.

The threat is not the welfare cheat or the person getting $50 more in UI benefits. It's the CEO who is taking home a $70 MILLION salary (that's 3,500 workers at $10 an hour!), why doesn't he take some of that money and "create" all those jobs conservatives say they create?

Or Bernie Madoff who swindled $2 billion from a lot of good people who lost a lifetime of savings. Where are all the jobs he created? If the CEO's had done what they were supposed to do, we wouldn't be in the mess we're in today.

Don't let the conservatives do the old "welfare cheat" bait and switch on you. They're laughing at you. They are far more responsible for our situation than the guy who got the little check from the government.

[jsgaetano]

Another sensationalist headline.

We've been HuffPwned.

[conservative-mindset]

This is how bright Paul Krugman is

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3EPd2i4Jshs

I hope he wasn't defending Malkin because it will reflect poor upon her.

The clip is several Canadians laughing at Krugmans push of socialized medicine. It's 30 seconds long

[jsgaetano]

So in other words, several wingnuts raised their hands and lied about being Canadian.

Yeah... typical "intelectual honesty" from the far right.

[laresistance]

Arrrrgggghhh! People, please read the New York Times. He is making fun of her. He's not really agreeing with her. Gawd!!

[respectingothers]

my sentiments as well. normally i don't consider myself smarter than the average american.. until i get on here and start reading comments. very depressing

[brownstoness]

hat tip to http://www.iamned.com

no economic improvement anytime soon'....

[JackRusselTerrier]

Why Paul Krugman would defend Michelle Malkin is beyond reason.

If he's going to defend such a person who cherry picks information to fit her right wing slanted world view, he might as well return his "Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Science" because it means no more than winning third place at the Oklahoma state fair for the best dressed bovine.

If he's going to denigrate his credentials by insulting hard working Americans, who would be more than happy to go back to work, he also should not call himself a liberal.

If I were to give him a label, it would be "regressive" because his credibility is slipping fast.

[gabby09]

Ouch! The state fair prize comparison was harsh...bu­t hilarious!

dogdaysofdating.wordpress.com

[Strywever]

I do not believe that he was defending Malkin. What he was saying is that she is not the only one making ridiculous arguments. That is not a defense -- just another badly written header.

[JackRusselTerrier]

Point taken, but what he was doing was defending her sources ( not that that were true, but that they existed ).

What bothers me most about Krugman is that he has become more of a sensationalist than an economist. He stirs up emotion more than he digs up facts.

[kareemachan]

As much as I hate to admit it, I was thinking the same thing.

[Irksome]

Oh, so Michelle Malkin thinks unemployed people just don't WANT to work? That's a load of horse puckey. I want to work, I just don't want to move to India to get my old tech support job back.

[Bjarni]

If all you could find is a job that pays the same or less than what your unemployment pays, why would you go work there before your unemployment ends?

People think about these things and for people to sit around and do nothing, maybe stay at home saving money on transit and daycare for their children is much more appealing than going to work having to pay for transit and daycare.

It's not about not "wanting" to work, if it comes out better not working for X amount of months you can earn more money on unemployment than working, sure the person may search for a better paying job, but will never reduce their income by getting a job paying less or equal to their unemployment.

[PoodleMomma]

Bjarni,
I respect you for braving this truth. This is what everyone thinks but few dare to speak. Thank you.

Integrity won't pay the bills; if it did we would have vacant prisons and there would be no need for unemployment insurance since we would all care for one another. People would respect their bodies and fast food would be healthy. We would also not need to "hide" behind the ambiguity of a blog site since we could share our thoughts freely in society without prejudice.

[kareemachan]

I would, as unemployment doesn't pay healthcare, and COBRA is a b#tch to cough up the premiums for. Your point may be valid, but there are many, many more elements to consider in the equation.

[JohnSawyer]

You need to back up your beliefs with actual figures. You may be surprised.

[wikwox]

I'm unemployed and can't even get the famed "burger flipping" job. I find it amazing that anyone pays attention to Malkin or the plethora of bloviating right wing gas bags. I think they should have a Conservative Town Meeting so we can talk to them face to face, that is until the tear gas and water cannons start.

[PoodleMomma]

I'm sorry to hear that you are without a job at this time. Though I don't agree with Malkin a lot of the time, I am impressed with her new book. It is amazing how blinded we've been by Obama's Illinois "strong-arm" political machine. We are moving GITMO to the continental U.S., and there is no real plan to leave the war in the Mideast.

I am sick of him abusing the venue of press conferences to treat us like we are idiots; yeah we all have hopes and dreams, but then you write a plan. My money $50, I bet we don't get to see the specific plan until it's already implemented; that is not transparency I can believe in any longer. I'd rather have a pro-choice Republican in office, at least then maybe we can all continue to speak English. At this rate there will be an educational mandate that we teach Mandarin Chinese to all citizens, and it will happen overnight under a "transparent" veil.

I wonder if he would have allowed people to apply for the clunkers, how many jobless or underemployed could have accepted a job with a clunker to get them from point A to point B. Would have been a better use of $1billion I think.

[JohnSawyer]

The point of the clunkers program, was to get them off the road to replace them with more fuel-efficient cars. Simply giving these vehicles to someone else, wouldn't have accomplished this goal.

Though it does pain me to think that a lot of otherwise perfectly good cars, that get 18 MPG, will be "rendered inoperable" (and then stripped and crushed, I suppose), when my own car, a 1994 Ford Taurus, though otherwise fine, gets only 12 MPG. An 18 MPG car would be a step up.

[dax49]

who will he defend next-eva braun?

[DecaturAnnie]

Please read his entire post.

[Strywever]

He wasn't defending Malkin -- just saying there are other whackadoodles out there making the same brainless arguments. The header doesn't reflect the actual content of his comments or his intent.

[Haditup2here]

Two people who get paid for opening their mouths and giving their opinions (which everyone has) . . . . who have the nerve to talk about all of the money going into unemployment. The irony. . .

And does Krugman thinks that just because he calls himself a liberal, that people are not going to call him out on his hypocrisy.

Where are the jobs, Krugman? Where are the jobs.?!

[cjt1957]

You should ask "The One" where the jobs are....

[Hwgfy]

What's it like being bitter?

[vjoseph]

I thought you people claim that government do not create jobs. Can't have it both ways

[Decipherer]

Who are you, "The Other?"

[dax49]

bush's buddies- the ones with all the tax breaks- sent them over-seas

[alsm9]

Oh get over it please. *rolls eyes*

[Gwiwer]

The world would be a much better place if everyone in it pretended Malkin didn't exist. Just let her screech and scream and carry on completely ignored. She's really not worth responding to, or even acknowledging, in any way. She contributes absolutely nothing positive to the public discourse.

[cjt1957]

Just like you....

[dontpanic1]

you too.