Krugman is shrill

Obama is supposed to give a pep talk on the economy next week. Doesn't look too encouraging to me. Instead of going bold with a demand for a big stimulus that will be spent outright on jobs, the rumor mill is saying it's going to be tax cuts. Which the GOP will vote against anyway. Krugman tells Obama to fight because it's the right thing to do.

But politics determines who has the power, not who has the truth. The economic theory behind the Obama stimulus has passed the test of recent events with flying colors; unfortunately, Mr. Obama, for whatever reason — yes, I’m aware that there were political constraints — initially offered a plan that was much too cautious given the scale of the economy’s problems.

As Kruman says, the President has the facts and it is a fight worth having. Even though he would likely lose the fight, it would draw a clear line between the party's positions and it's a fight for good policy, which might actually cheer up "the base" whatever that's supposed to be these days.

This was also a great point he made in his post.

Oh, and don’t tell me that Germany proves that austerity, not stimulus, is the way to go. Germany actually did quite a lot of stimulus — the austerity is all in the future. Also, it never had a housing bubble that burst. And with all that, German G.D.P. is still further below its precrisis peak than American G.D.P. True, Germany has done better in terms of employment — but that’s because strong unions and government policy have prevented American-style mass layoffs.

How about that? Stong unions and good government policy protect domestic jobs. What a concept. Too bad the Democrats can't grasp it. Too busy dancing to the GOP narrative to notice I guess. Sometimes they remind me of that pathetic old drunk in the old Westerns that dances around the bullets the bad gunman guy shoots around his feet.