Paul Krugman Shreds Paul Ryan's Remarks On Poverty

[babylonsister]

Last edited Mon Mar 17, 2014, 01:08 PM - Edit history (1)

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/krugman-shreds-paul-ryans-poverty-remarks


Paul Krugman Shreds Paul Ryan's Remarks On Poverty

Brendan James – March 17, 2014, 11:32 AM EDT2298


The latest criticism of Rep. Paul Ryan's (R-WI) recent comments on poverty comes from New York Times columnist Paul Krugman, who called them a "racial dog-whistle" in a scathing column on Monday.

Though Ryan walked back his initial remarks last Wednesday —in which he claimed "inner cities" possess a "culture problem" where men are not "even thinking about working"—Krugman does not accept the House Budget Committee chairman's claim that he was being merely "inarticulate."

"American conservatism is still, after all these years, largely driven by claims that liberals are taking away your hard-earned money and giving it to Those People," Krugman complains.

Moving beyond Ryan's specific remarks, the Princeton economist suggested they're representative of the GOP and American politics at large.

"One odd consequence of our still-racialized politics is that conservatives are still, in effect, mobilizing against the bums on welfare even though both the bums and the welfare are long gone or never existed," he wrote.

Finally, after cataloging all the traits of poverty blamed on "black" culture that have become common in white communities amid falling wages and joblessness, Krguman concludes, "{t}hese awkward facts have not, however, penetrated the world of conservative ideology."

"Mr. Ryan wasn’t being inarticulate — he said what he said because it’s all that he’s got," Krugman added.

********************

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/03/17/opinion/krugman-that-old-time-whistle.html

That Old-Time Whistle
Paul Krugman

[dionysus]

1. "inner cities" possess a "culture problem" where men are not "even thinking about working" well, he

got it right, but not the way he thinks.

they're not thinking about working, because they're lazy, but because THERE'S NO GOOD JOBS IF ANY JOB, PERIOD.

and once people realize you can make way more money in illicit activities that working at mcdonalds... there you go.

you can't blame people in a desperate situation for doing what they need to do to survive.

[ErikJ]

4. That's why gentrification is good imo.

Gentrification not only brings jobs to the area but also income, racial and age diversity.

[sheshe2]

2. KnR

[Gothmog]

3. Prof. Krugman has fun with Ryan's stupidity

I really do not understand why some people think that Ryan is bright. To me, Ryan is an overrated idiot

[LondonReign2]

6. He is an idiot

But as Krugman so accurately points out, Ryan is very good at *sounding* like he know what he is talking about. His smooth delivery covers up for a lot of stupidity.

[ErikJ]

5. Krugman idea of celebrating St. Patricks Day?