Downhill With the G.O.P.

On Friday Krugman wrote an op-ed Downhill With the G.O.P. about the GOP Pledge to America.

"So how did we get to the point where one of our two major political parties isn’t even trying to make sense? The answer isn’t a secret. The late Irving Kristol, one of the intellectual godfathers of modern conservatism, once wrote frankly about why he threw his support behind tax cuts that would worsen the budget deficit: his task, as he saw it, was to create a Republican majority, ‘so political effectiveness was the priority, not the accounting deficiencies of government.’ In short, say whatever it takes to gain power. That’s a philosophy that now, more than ever, holds sway in the movement Kristol helped shape."

And yesterday he tackled the myth that unemployment is structural and employers are complaining that employees don't have needed skills, in Structure of Excuses. (He has a nice graph here).

And remember, when you see all those ads saying the stimulous 'did not create or save any jobs' that "The truth is that the stimulus increased employment by between 1.4 million and 3.3 million people, compared with what employment would have been otherwise. That’s according to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office."