James Tyler

Paul Krugman Doesn’t Know Why Senator Bunning Filibustered Unemployment Benefits

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Paul Krugman recently wrote an op-ed in the New York Times criticizing Senator Jim Bunning (R Kentucky) for filibustering a one month extension of unemployment benefits to 100,000 people. As Mr. Bunning put it himself:

Of course, we can have a vote on it, and, of course, it can be defeated, and then, of course, we can pass the bill without the money. I am not willing to risk that $10 billion being added to the deficit.

The fact that many people, including myself, praised the maneuver because we don’t believe in handing out money to people just because they lost their jobs, doesn’t mean that Mr. Bunning agreed with us. To the contrary, Mr. Bunning wanted to extend the benefits! It would seem that Krugman’s claim that “Republicans live in different universes, both intellectually and morally” is a great misconception. If Senator Bunning was the only Republican to filibuster this bill and he supports giving unemployment benefits, then presumably the majority of other Republicans who all voted for in favor of the benefits actually favor the benefits too.

Krugman ought to do some basic fact checking as well; he engaged in classic economic fear mongering when he invoked the Great Depression saying “long-term unemployment at its highest level since the Great Depression”. Really? Unemployment in late 1982 sat at 10.8% and is currently only at 10.4% (and has only been as high as 10.6% a few months ago).

In 1996 Newsweek described Krugman as “ideologically colorblind.” It would seem that Krugman, a self described liberal, is really just a mouthpiece for the Democrat Party based on his unabashed fact twisting.

Tags: Jim Bunning, Paul Krugman