Since winning the Noble Prize in Economics Paul Krugman has become the Patron Saint of Liberal Economics. It seems that not a day goes by that His names isn't dropped by a Liberal commentators.. I also should say that for the most part I agree with him.
One Area we agree is that the Obama Stimulus Package should be bigger. I've mentioned in prior posts that I believe we need a plan that spends $2 trillion over 5 yrs. I believe that a 5 year plan is better because it allows for a longer term perdictability and the larger amount makes for more stable long-term investments
I also agree with Mr. Krugman belief that the one time tax relief Obama is proposing might not be an effective method of boosting the economy. However, I believe the best way to get a real tax cut that favors lower incomes is to increase the personal exemption. If you increase the Personal Exemption from $7500, I think it is, to say $12000 that makes a hell of a difference to people near the bottom. To the people at the top, not so much.
One area we totally disagree is in what Mr. Krugman said in a recent article about Health Care. In the article directed to Obama Krugman said "why not get an early start on the insurance subsidies, probably running at $100 billion or more per year". I assume he's talking about a tax credit Obama talked about for small businesses which would ultimately go to the Insurance companies. So you want to give $100 billion to the companies that are the root of our problems. How about we spent $100 billion to increase Medicare infrastructure and capacity and allow small businesses buy into Medicare. It would give serious competition to private sector insurance and could even help stabilize Medicare by increasing the pool with younger healthier workers.
But who am I to question a Saint?
