Kicking the employment can('t)

Paul Krugman is a well respected member of the NY times for good reason; hes sharp, concise, and convincing. In his New York Times job creation op-ed, Krugman realizes it's time to stop beating around the bush when it comes to the economy. He argues that job creation, while being desperately needed and plausibly implemented, has been ignored for too long and the excuses for doing so are weak.

Like any good author of an editorial, Krugman knows that you can't attack your opponent without making it clear you understand his point. He argues that politicians are being "destructively passive" and ignoring the perceived "short-term" problem of unemployment as it slowly spirals out of control, but also offers the 4 most common counterarguments to that. In showing these well-known arguments in their simplest form, Krugman really reveals what their roots are: procrastination, fear, resignation and being downright delusional. He proceeds to dismantle these arguments one at a time, and by the time he is done they all seem awfully weak considering what is at stake with the topic.

I particularly like Krugman's response to the "we already tried stimulus money, look where it got us" argument. not afraid of diving into statistics, he shows how inefficiently the money was spent and how in reality almost none of it got spent on job creation. I for one was surprised at the apparently sudden rise in unemployment, but after reading this editorial I feel stupid for not having anticipated it in the first place. Nothing has been done to aid the job market, and continuing this policy can only succeed in delaying the depression that loomed so heavily over our heads just a few years ago.

The same stagnancy in decision making that I discussed last week with the debt-ceiling can be seen in all sectors of American politics, and Paul Krugman writes an excellent article denouncing this. He knows that we can easily overcome our doom, but the biggest challenge is to break the status-quo and not give in to the temptation of sitting back and watching it all unfold.