Paul Krugman: Paranoia Over Gas Prices Strikes Deeper

Stop, hey, what’s that sound? Actually, it’s the noise a great political party makes when it loses what’s left of its mind. And it happened — where else? — on Fox News on Sunday, when Mitt Romney bought fully into the claim that gas prices are high thanks to an Obama administration plot. This claim isn’t just nuts; it’s a sort of craziness triple play — a lie wrapped in an absurdity swaddled in paranoia.

Read the whole story at The New York Times

Comments

[SportyJim]

06:09 AM on 03/26/2012

In 2006 over 76% of Democrats placed the blame for high gas prices on Pres Bush. Today, less than 34% say Pres Obama is responsible. Wonder why?

[bushfailure]

02:17 PM on 03/24/2012

The GOP is a party of 5 year olds, lost in fantasy and imagination. The TEA party moniker is appropriate, but not of the patriot variety, but of the Mad Hatter kind. They can say anything, no matter how crazy or untrue, hoping it will stick. 30 % of the country will believe anything they say. Obama is a Muslim, Obama is foreign born, etc, etc.
The leadership is smarter than this, but they don't care. Those who go along with this madness are as guilty. The party has really become an asylum for the crazy.

[thruther]

03:02 PM on 03/23/2012

Right on the money Mr. Krugman, but unfortunately the uneducated and unformed to truth will NOT like what you have said.

[kent4620]

02:47 PM on 03/23/2012

Gas prices up, obama down................................simple

[qwert1234]

02:50 PM on 03/23/2012

still aren't as high as the summer of 08

[kent4620]

03:04 PM on 03/23/2012

it isn't summer yet...........highest for this time of year

[yeti7]

03:23 PM on 03/23/2012

I think they are higher now, at least where I am living.

[Toonguy]

03:09 PM on 03/23/2012

Hallelujah, brother, we have someone who can repeat from the RNC scriptures!

[Honest-Frank]

02:04 PM on 03/23/2012

Can't wait for Krugman next article, "Not Obama's fault that the Economy Stinks"

[Toonguy]

03:10 PM on 03/23/2012

By all means, read his articles - he's already explained what's going on with the economy, who's causing the problems, and what needs to be done to fix them.

[Impaler]

05:41 PM on 03/23/2012

Explained, and propagandize, are two different things.

[yeti7]

03:26 PM on 03/23/2012

LA Times said he said it is a sign that the economy is improving.

[Honest-Frank]

02:02 PM on 03/23/2012

Candidate Obama said in 2007: "I think it is important for us to send some price signals, to change behavior" and that “it's not going to be painless....a lot of us who can afford are going to have to pay more per unit of electricity”

It sounds like Krugman should do more homework before he spouts off again.

[qwert1234]

02:05 PM on 03/23/2012

electricity and gas are two different things

[Impaler]

02:11 PM on 03/23/2012

"If I am elected energy prices will necessarily skyrocket." - BHO 2008

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BqHL404zhcU

[dresdengirl]

02:22 PM on 03/23/2012

Not to the Fox audience.

[Toonguy]

03:11 PM on 03/23/2012

You didn't read the article, did you?

[Veganie]

01:57 PM on 03/23/2012

The TV at the gas station should show porno then I wouldn’t feel like the only one getting it in the rear.

[ABACADABRA RABBIT]

02:22 PM on 03/23/2012

I will make a formal request to chevron.

[Veganie]

03:16 PM on 03/23/2012

Thank you AR

[ruburnt]

01:38 PM on 03/23/2012

Today's cost at the pump compared to 3 years ago....www.toomuchatthepump.com
No wonder the middle class is struggling to survive....

[qwert1234]

02:02 PM on 03/23/2012

lol. your understanding of statistics is to compare exactly TWO points in time and look at the trend? how about the decade-long increase in gas prices, throught bush's entire presidency, that resulted in a peak of over $4 in the summer of 2008? no, ignore that trend, just focus on the trend *after* the drop in prices from the recession. now that's how a statistical analysis is done!

[ruburnt]

06:51 PM on 03/23/2012

Yep..AND who was being blamed for high gas prices during bush's term?

[headly67]

01:25 PM on 03/23/2012

Gas was about $1.30 for 20 years before Bush got crowned King of America by the SCOTUS.

Then he raised prices 219%. Then he destroyed the economy so prices tanked. Then Obama saved the economy so prices have come back up to the Bush precedent.

http://www.randomuseless.info/gasprice/gasprice.html

Gas is high for one reason - George Bush

[Impaler]

02:11 PM on 03/23/2012

BDS is alive and well.

[headly67]

02:40 PM on 03/23/2012

So that didn't happen? Prove me wrong.

[jeanrenoir]

01:22 PM on 03/23/2012

Apropos Krugman's highly justified fears of the dangers of American paranoia on the right, we need to face the fact that this election in November will truly be the political "Armageddon" the far right longs for. It will be for America what 1932 was for Germany. Romney's no Hitler--at least if you're not a Muslim somewhere in the Middle East that Likud Israel wants Romney to kill for it--but a Republican victory next fall would nonetheless be the triumph of proto-fascist rage, resentment, and paranoia in America, and Romney would always have to kowtow to the insane right that now holds the balance of power in the Republican electorate. That's not a pretty prospect for women, minorities, or the entire world.

[jamenta]

01:57 PM on 03/23/2012

“Fascism is a form of political and social behavior that arises when the middle class, finding its hopes frustrated by economic instability coupled with political polarization and deadlock, abandons traditional ideologies and turns, with the approbation of police and military forces, to a poorly-defined but emotionally appealing soteriology of national unity, immediate and direct resolution of problems, and intolerance for dissent.”

-Chuck Anesi

[jeanrenoir]

01:16 PM on 03/23/2012

As usual, what's truly farcical about the right is their jumbled and contradictory values. On the one hand, they hate high gas prices. On the other, they PASSIONATELY support Israel's coming attack on Iran, which will DOUBLE the dummies' gas prices OVERNIGHT, and give them a deep Recession for dessert. But, hey, anything for our only "allies" in the region, right? These dodos truly deserve to get what they want, a war in Iran and consequent economic ruin.

[kirok2002]

01:12 PM on 03/23/2012

Krugman, your comments are so lame, it's a movie of the week at best. You've been discredited so many times it's not even funny. Zip it!

[CTDFalconer]

01:21 PM on 03/23/2012

What about those studies that say he turns out to be right more often than other commentators? You zip it.

[FAHayekWasRight]

01:46 PM on 03/23/2012

Nobody listens to Krugman. Not even Obama

[headly67]

01:22 PM on 03/23/2012

Prove it.

[balloonloon]

01:06 PM on 03/23/2012

"Romney bought fully into the claim that gas prices are high thanks to an Obama administration plot": How the MSM keeps getting away w/ instigating this absurd notion is beyond belief. Why not go all the way and investigate Rudy Giuliani for being responsible for 9/11.

[SoutheastBeast]

01:05 PM on 03/23/2012

There's nothing new about the GOP's extremism. This is a party that tried to float the notion that President Clinton ordered the murder of Vince Foster, and essentially led a coup against that same President for lying about a mutually consensual sexual affair. These folks have been stone cold crazy for a long time.

[Radicalgal47]

01:01 PM on 03/23/2012

This ferret is a useful idiot.

[headly67]

01:28 PM on 03/23/2012

And he's right.

[dresdengirl]

02:26 PM on 03/23/2012

25¢