Paul Krugman Destroys GOP’s Talking Points On Government Jobs

[ProSense]

Last edited Sun Feb 3, 2013, 05:08 PM - Edit history (1)

Paul Krugman Destroys GOP’s Talking Points On Government Jobs

By Jeff Spross

On Sunday, economist Paul Krugman hit back against GOP claims that public sector employment has increased under Obama, and that such jobs consist mainly of wasteful bureaucrats and somehow count less economically than private sector ones. Back in September it was tea party Senator Rand Paul (R-KY) toeing that line, and this morning it was former Republican gubernatorial candidate Carly Fiorina.

The exchange commenced immediately after Krugman made the point that, had government employment in the current recovery followed the same path it followed under previous recessions in the Bush and Reagan years, unemployment now would be slightly above 6 percent:

CARLY FIORINA: I think it’s important to remember, when we talk about the economy, that a private sector job and a public sector job are not the same things. They’re not equivalent. I’m not saying public sector jobs aren’t important. But a private sector job pays for itself. A private sector job creates other jobs. A public sector job is paid for by taxpayers. <...>

PAUL KRUGMAN: But when we say public sector jobs, it is not a bureaucrat in Washington, D.C.

FIORINA: Oh, it is, actually.

KRUGMAN: When we talk about public sector jobs — when we look at the ones that have been lost in large numbers in this — it’s basically school teachers. Don’t think about bureaucrats. It’s school teachers. What we’ve laid off hundreds of thousands of school teachers.

And when we talk about the cuts in public spending that have happened, they are not, you know, some god awful who knows what. It’s actually public investment. It’s largely fixing potholes and repairing bridges.

So, you know, you have this image of these wasteful bureaucrats doing god knows what. What we’ve seen is an incredible drought of basic infrastructure, and laying off hundreds of thousands of school teachers.

FIORINA: It is a fact that virtually every department in every organization in Washington, D.C. has seen its budget increase for the last 40 years. That money is being paid to hire people. The number of people who are — of course there are some teachers…

Watch it:

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http://thinkprogress.org/economy/2013/02/03/1533621/krugman-corrects-fiorina/

Failed CEO debates consistently right economist.



Think Progress edited original.

[riderinthestorm]

1. Freudian slip? "We don’t have enough private escort job creation"?

Or a typo? Either way, its hilarious.

[ProSense]

2. Evidently, a transcript error.

LOL!

[11 Bravo]

3. Not to worry. David Vitter is on the job!

[TeamPooka]

4. Go Krugman! Go Krugman! Gosh I really despise Carly Fiorina

[maddiemom]

7. But you gotta admit: the "Demon Sheep" were priceless!

[pampango]

5. Thanks again, Mr. Krugman. n/t

[Major Nikon]

6. The most wasteful government jobs are those in the military, which the wingnuts love the most