Obama to Krugman: Show Me The Workable Ideas!
Like everyone in the blogosphere, I’ve been following Paul Krugman’s concerns that the Obama stimulus plan isn’t big enough. Today, Obama said he’s willing to listen to any ideas Krugman has about good projects on which to spend money:
Look, there’s some people who have said that it’s not big enough, there are others who say it’s too big. Well, the — as I said before, Democrats or Republicans, we welcome good ideas. And so the challenge for all of us, I think, is to identify good ideas, good spending plans, that deliver on my commitment to create or save 3 million jobs. I want this to work. This is not an intellectual exercise, and there is no pride of authorship. If members of Congress have good ideas, if they can identify a project for me that will create jobs in an efficient way, that does not hamper our ability to — over the long term — get control of our deficit, that is good for the economy, then I’m going to accept it.
If Paul Krugman has a good idea, in terms of how to spend money efficiently and effectively to jump-start the economy, then we’re going to do it. If somebody has an idea for a tax cut that is better than a tax cut we’ve proposed, we will embrace it. So, you know, one of the things that I think I’m trying to communicate in this process is for everybody to get past the habit that sometimes occurs in Washington of whose idea is it, what ideological corner does it come from. Just show me. If you can show me that something is going to work, I will welcome it.
Maybe Krugman will reply on his blog. Either that or maybe Secretary of State Hillary Clinton can broker some kind of sit-down.
73 Responses to “Obama to Krugman: Show Me The Workable Ideas!”
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January 9th, 2009 at 12:51 pm
I think I am going to like having a president who doesn’t offer stupid, semi-incoherent bullsh*t as the answer to every single question he’s asked by the press.
January 9th, 2009 at 12:53 pm
Which is to say, I think Obama is articulate. Too much coffee this morning is skewing my comments.
January 9th, 2009 at 12:57 pm
Is it Paul Krug men or Paul ˈkɹuːɡmən?
January 9th, 2009 at 12:57 pm
that does not hamper our ability to — over the long term — get control of our deficit
Disaster President for Goldman Sachs talks about cutting spending and thinks it’s gonna stimulate the ecobomy.
January 9th, 2009 at 12:59 pm
What, solar-powered magnetic levitation urban trolley projects won’t be shovel-ready to employ vast number of the unemployed post haste?
January 9th, 2009 at 1:01 pm
wow, Obama just called Krugman out! Can he be expecting a visit from the IRS? j/k
And what Gary said.
January 9th, 2009 at 1:03 pm
And I think we lost 2+ million jobs in 2008. 3 million jobs “saved or created” over two years is a pathetic goal. I wouldn’t be surprised if we lose a million a month for the next couple months.
January 9th, 2009 at 1:04 pm
@ Jimboslice
Can’t read the special characters for whatever reason, but I’ve seen him on Bill Maher and Bill got it wrong, so it’s:
U = “ooh, look at that!”
E = schwa
January 9th, 2009 at 1:06 pm
Oops, that’s A = schwa. Intially tried to type it out phonetically and gave up, but left the E in there. Doh!
January 9th, 2009 at 1:06 pm
This reminds me of the FDR story where he says “I want to do that too, now make me”
January 9th, 2009 at 1:07 pm
We are in a world in which the incoming Democratic President-elect is being asked questions by journalists about whether or not he has an answer for economist Paul Krugman on whether or not our New New Deal is big enough.
It’s the same world, but it’s different enough.
January 9th, 2009 at 1:08 pm
“Look, there’s some people who have said that it’s not big enough, there are others who say it’s too big.”
And there’s some people who think it doesn’t matter (as per Japan’s failed serial “stimulus” plans). Does Krugman and his camp followers have a plan B, just in case?
January 9th, 2009 at 1:11 pm
the stimulus package will be the GOP’s first true test into the Obama term…will they be the GOP of old, obstructing for no reason, playing to the worst of their base…or will the GOP start to remodel itself towards a more pragmatic party?
January 9th, 2009 at 1:11 pm
“Which is to say, I think Obama is articulate.”
Don’t forget “bright” and “clean”, Joe Biden.
January 9th, 2009 at 1:12 pm
What Digby said: Kabuki.
Kerry and Conrad sing and dance, the press start clamoring for more bigger stimulus, Obama says, “oh well gee guys, if you insist…”
January 9th, 2009 at 1:13 pm
Aid to state and local governments! We keep hearing about how much of the proposed stimulus is infrastructure spending, and how much is tax cuts. What ever happened to providing aid to state and local governments? I think that would be a big part of any answer that Krugman might offer.
January 9th, 2009 at 1:14 pm
I think I am going to like having a president who doesn’t offer stupid, semi-incoherent bullsh*t as the answer to every single question he’s asked by the press.
I think I’m going to like having a president who doesn’t think that his initial proposal is the divine truth authored by God himself, or view dissent and criticism as personal affronts to be ruthlessly squashed.
January 9th, 2009 at 1:15 pm
Shorter Obama: Bring it, don’t sing it!
January 9th, 2009 at 1:23 pm
The upcoming buzzphrase is “human infrastructure.”
Obama’s initial instinct, being a Chicago politician, was to do what Chicago politicians do when they have a windfall of cash — fill potholes. But, it’s a lousy way to create jobs in the shortrun. The jobs are capital-intensive and the exciting SWPL “green” projects that get Matt’s pulse racing would hamstrung by 5 or 15 years of “green” environmental impact hearings.
What’s cheap is to just pay the states not to layoff their prison guards, teachers, firemen, and so forth and call it “human infrastructure.” California, for example, is completely broke, so it wants to be bailed out by the states that weren’t living high on the hog during the Housing Bubble.
You can then hire some more paper pushers to fill open reqs in the educational and other bureaucracies. By calling them “human infrastructure” instead of “government workers,” it makes it sound cool and like it was all part of your big infrastructure plan that you talked about in December, instead of revealing that you are basically clueless and just making it up as you go along.
January 9th, 2009 at 1:24 pm
NYC Charles: That’s U as in “look,” not U as in “ooh,” right?
I think Krugman can reasonably respond that the Obama’s is below his pay grade. He may know that we need some additional spending without knowing what the best additional spending is — one of those seems like a macroeconomics question, the other doesn’t. Just as someone who says “Spend more money on high-speed rail” isn’t obliged to come up with a specific answer for exactly which right-of-ways will be used for that high-speed rail. If all else fails, didn’t Keynes suggest burying a bunch of money in the hills and having people dig it up?
kafka, don’t try to teach Krugman to suck eggs on the Japanese liquidity trap; he knows more about it than you or me. Anyway, see here. (short version: Japan’s fiscal stimulus was actually reasonably effective when tried, it was the subsequent anti-stimulus that kept the economy down.)
January 9th, 2009 at 1:24 pm
If Paul Krugman has a good idea, in terms of how to spend money efficiently and effectively to jump-start the economy, then we’re going to do it.
Wow. That sounds like pretty unambiguous language to me. Good for the president-elect. Also, I’m pretty sure I read in the NY Times yesterday a quote from Obama saying something to the effect of “we’re low-balling the initial proposal because we expect congressional input will increase the size of the appropriation.” It’s simply going to be wonderful to have a non-idiotic, non-immoral person in the nation’s highest office — never mind a gifted and inspiring person.
What ever happened to providing aid to state and local governments?
This will definitely be part of the package. My only fear is this component won’t be large enough. I thought I read the other day that states were facing something like $50 billion in revenue shortfalls — but that is surely WAY to small a figure as the full extent of the recession hits state (and local government) coffers AND budgets. Giving the existence of federally-owned printing presses, and the current demand for treasury paper, there’s no reason that local and state spending in the aggregate should drop one penny due to the crisis. Indeed, there’s no reason it shouldn’t increase substantially given the increased demand for programs, and the desirability of increasing employment via public sector hiring.
January 9th, 2009 at 1:30 pm
Great Blog post. I am going to bookmark and read more often. I love the Blog template
January 9th, 2009 at 1:31 pm
From your and Digby’s mouths to the FSM’s, er, noodly appendages. It’s a fairly plausible scenario, and Obama is both a cautious and an extremely shrewd man so he may well be deliberately playing that angle. We’ll find out soon enough.
January 9th, 2009 at 1:39 pm
Obama has not even taken the oath and already the tit-for-tat justification of corrupt politics has started. And not by the least of observers. Declared Hillary fan Paul Krugman posted this in his NYT blog on November 18:
“Everywhere you look, there’s stuff about Bill Clinton’s donors and all that, often with the implication that there must inherently be something dirty going on, because, well, just because.
But I guess that’s just the way things are. After all, do you remember all the grief President Bush got over his family’s questionable business ties?”
Now, nobody is asking to forget the Bush phallacy even before it came to an end, but this disculpation of one person by pointing at his/her predecessor’s actions, especially out of the pen of a Nobel prize winner, is just not what we need right now. Let’s hope Krugman doesn’t set the tone for the mainstream press. Change: yes we could, but only if it suits us?
Read more on Crunchreport.com.
January 9th, 2009 at 1:51 pm
nobody is asking to forget the Bush phallacy
I’m pretty sure that was Clinton, actually.
January 9th, 2009 at 1:51 pm
One thing we can thank George Bush for:
We can now say a black public figure is articulate without feeling vaguely racist.
January 9th, 2009 at 2:09 pm
repeal of bankruptcy bill, flat/low mortgage rates for all homeowners and buyers, student loan debt forgiveness, less troops more defense r&d (nanotech, artificial intel), drug decriminalization, end to end of parole in federal system, mandate all new cars e85 or biodiesel ready, progressive farm subsidies, infrastructure, tax credits for renewables and home/business fuel cells
January 9th, 2009 at 2:12 pm
California, for example, is completely broke, so it wants to be bailed out by the states that weren’t living high on the hog during the Housing Bubble.
California is one of the biggest donor states in the country in terms of the federal taxes it pays vs. the federal spending it receives. Those “Real America” states you fetishize have been living high off the hog on California’s dime for decades.
But heaven forbid that the ratio between what California pays and what it gets back moves a little closer to parity!
January 9th, 2009 at 2:20 pm
“Look, there’s some people who have said that it’s not big enough, there are others who say it’s too big.”
that’s what she said…
January 9th, 2009 at 2:27 pm
Where do you get off, you sick little twist? Sexual? I’m not sexual with them. I’m not abusive with them, how dare you write that in your paper without knowing nothing about me, biting’s not sex, it’s biting! I’m not sick like that. Maybe I should come bite you, would you like that, scotty? I bet you would like that, I am right? You write about me like I’m sick. You’re the sick one, you know that? Is that why you like me, scotty? Is that why? I could come bite you; you tell me how sexual it is. You humiliate me like that? You mortify me like that in front of my father? My father’s father? Listen to me, smack daddy, crack daddy, little baby whack daddy, here’s what’s happening. You ain’t never going to find them anymore. You aint never gonna see them no more. I’m sending you something right now, You take a good look at this guy, because you ain’t ver going to see him no more.
January 9th, 2009 at 2:31 pm
2, 3, many Princetons! build ‘em one by one!
January 9th, 2009 at 2:49 pm
Jasper,
The CBPP puts the number for states at $350 billion (http://www.cbpp.org/9-8-08sfp.htm):
Make state aid part of the stimulus package!
January 9th, 2009 at 2:57 pm
So wait a minute, how’s he supposed to know which ideas are good and which are bad? Everybody has their own set of cherrypicked stats they can use to “prove” their ideology is the best one, but two months ago the country decided it wanted a Dem President and a Dem legislature. Those candidates ran on a platform of “Republicans are wrong about the economy”–Obama more than anyone. So why are we letting those same Republicans make our decisions for us now?
Just because the Republican party has clawed its way into forming (slightly less than) half of the country’s political landscape doesn’t mean its ideas are legitimate or its people trustworthy.
So why are Dems bending over and spreading their proverbial cheeks yet again? Haven’t we had enough of that?
January 9th, 2009 at 3:02 pm
You guys missed the lede here. This is all part of the bailout plan for newspapers (especially my newspaper). The soon to be President of the United States is publicly asking advice from one of my columnists. Everyone will be reading the NY Times to see how Krugman responds. He isn’t asking Sean Hannity for suggestions, that’s for damn sure. Take that, Rupert!
January 9th, 2009 at 3:29 pm
Direct talks with Paul Krugman? Won’t that just legitimize him in the eyes of the world?
January 9th, 2009 at 3:41 pm
Hogan wins the thread.
January 9th, 2009 at 3:47 pm
Maybe I should come bite you, would you like that, scotty? I bet you would like that, I am right? You write about me like I’m sick. You’re the sick one, you know that? Is that why you like me, scotty? Is that why? I could come bite you; you tell me how sexual it is.
Wow, who’d have thought someone who hangs out at Think Progress would be weird enough to quote from their Star Trek slash fan-ficton?
A lot of us, on the other hand, might consider it an exceptionally good day spent listening to Paul Krugman and Barack Obama chewing on a tax stimulous plan. Between them, more brains and sense than the sum of most Bush cabinet meetings.
January 9th, 2009 at 3:57 pm
So wait a minute, how’s he supposed to know which ideas are good and which are bad?
We have what the Founding Fathers would have called “debate” and “discussion,” after which our elected officials will “vote” on any new law that arise from the “debate” and the president decides whether to sign the document.
Everybody has their own set of cherrypicked stats they can use to “prove” their ideology is the best one, but two months ago the country decided it wanted a Dem President and a Dem legislature. Those candidates ran on a platform of “Republicans are wrong about the economy”–Obama more than anyone. So why are we letting those same Republicans make our decisions for us now?
Who says they are? Obama’s inviting everyone in on the debate, but he has the votes to pass something close to what he wants, when it comes down to it.
January 9th, 2009 at 4:02 pm
all well and good. Krugman *has* already made suggestions and shown quite explicitly why the tax cuts (especially $350 billion of them instead of $ which could be used to create jobs, which is supposed to be the point) aren’t the way to go. so, could someone sit Obama down and read these things to him at some point, if he doesn’t have the time to read them himself? or is he just getting too much advice from Robert Rubin and Larry Summers to be in touch at this point?
January 9th, 2009 at 4:16 pm
We have what the Founding Fathers would have called “debate” and “discussion,” after which our elected officials will “vote” on any new law that arise from the “debate” and the president decides whether to sign the document.
That’s not what Obama said. He said he’ll take into account ideas from all sides, as long as they meet some nebulous criterion for what is good. We’ve already had a debate about whose ideas are good and whose aren’t; it was called “the last eight years” and “the general election.” But that apparently isn’t enough for Obama, who, after leading the country to a point where we finally don’t need to live in fealty to the bankrupt and pernicious ideologues of the right, is now inexplicably pretending he has 40 senators rather than 59.
Who says they are?
Obama wants 80 votes. Those 21-odd GOP senators aren’t going to vote for a bill they haven’t had a chance to sabotage thoroughly.
January 9th, 2009 at 4:29 pm
I am appalled. Prof. Dr. Krugman is a distasteful blowhard with an ideological axe to grind. The leader of the most powerful country on Earth should not be soliciting advice from such a figure.
January 9th, 2009 at 4:46 pm
Steve-O, I don’t know how to break this to you, but it seems the committee that gives out the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economics would say that YOU are the distasteful blowhard. And I heartily agree.
January 9th, 2009 at 5:23 pm
“onceler:”
ll well and good. Krugman *has* already made suggestions and shown quite explicitly why the tax cuts (especially $350 billion of them instead of $ which could be used to create jobs, which is supposed to be the point) aren’t the way to go. so, could someone sit Obama down and read these things to him at some point, if he doesn’t have the time to read them himself? or is he just getting too much advice from Robert Rubin and Larry Summers to be in touch at this point?
***Baloney.*** As you can tell from the mention of Rubin and Summers this is another one with an axe to grind. (or the same under a different alias? one never knows)
Krugman actually wrote:
Or is the plan being limited by political caution? Press reports last month indicated that Obama aides were anxious to keep the final price tag on the plan below the politically sensitive trillion-dollar mark. There also have been suggestions that the plan’s inclusion of large business tax cuts, which add to its cost but will do little for the economy, is an attempt to win Republican votes in Congress.
So Krugman is suggesting to pass it *without* Republican votes, which means not passing a bill – which would help the economy how exactly??? Good to see our President-elect call him out. Will be interesting to see how he responds.
Matt’s suggestion about bringing in Hillary to mediate made me laugh, but maybe it is a good idea.
January 9th, 2009 at 5:29 pm
Hey dumb asshole, if you’re hinting about me, I post under (and only under) my real name. Now go crawl back under your rock.
January 9th, 2009 at 5:30 pm
Peter K., first, Krugman is not suggesting that the stimulus shouldn’t get Republican votes, just that the bill should not be made worse to get more Republican votes.
Second, if Republicans want to filibuster the economic stimulus package while we teeter on the edge of a depression, I think I’m not alone in saying, “Bring it on.” They wouldn’t win an election for forty years.
January 9th, 2009 at 5:36 pm
I am appalled. Stephen Myles is a distasteful blowhard with an ideological axe to grind. The readers of the most powerful blog on Earth should not be soliciting advice from such a figure.
January 9th, 2009 at 5:42 pm
I have a feeling that, to avoid the dread TRILLION word, they’ll do like 800 billion this year and then another 300-700 billion next year.
It’s mostly political, but I also think they want to gauge how much is to do next year by how effective this year’s stimulus works
January 9th, 2009 at 5:43 pm
“But why isn’t Obama listening to MEEEE?! I’m Paul Krugman!!!”
January 9th, 2009 at 8:12 pm
Yes; where does an internationally renowned, Nobel-winning liberal economist get off thinking that he should be listened to?
January 10th, 2009 at 2:09 am
How about doubling the salary of each and every public school teacher?
How about free college tuition for all?
How about building ten terawatts of wind turbines from domestic steel and the batteries to store their power during times of calm winds?
How about subsidizing a $2,500 plug-in hybrid hatchback?
Come on Paul, I know you can be bold enough to say these things.
January 10th, 2009 at 6:40 am
Isn’t it just nice to have President who’s willing to say that? I couldn’t picture Bush or McCain saying that in their entire lives….and as he told us, McCain “knows how to (insert any national problem here), my friends” http://tinyurl.com/a46ca6
February 10th, 2009 at 1:53 pm
Obama is the worst choice ever made.
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