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Excerpt: "Ryanomics is and always has been a con game, although to be fair, it has become even more of a con since Mr. Ryan joined the ticket."

Portrait, New York Times columnist Paul Krugman, 06/15/09. (photo: Fred R. Conrad/NYT)

An Unserious Man

By Paul Krugman, The New York Times

20 August 12

Mitt Romney's choice of Paul Ryan as his running mate led to a wave of pundit accolades. Now, declared writer after writer, we're going to have a real debate about the nation's fiscal future. This was predictable: never mind the Tea Party, Mr. Ryan's true constituency is the commentariat, which years ago decided that he was the Honest, Serious Conservative, whose proposals deserve respect even if you don't like him.

But he isn't and they don't. Ryanomics is and always has been a con game, although to be fair, it has become even more of a con since Mr. Ryan joined the ticket.

Let's talk about what's actually in the Ryan plan, and let's distinguish in particular between actual, specific policy proposals and unsupported assertions. To focus things a bit more, let's talk - as most budget discussions do - about what's supposed to happen over the next 10 years.

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+71 # Onterryo 2012-08-20 07:23

The truth does not matter to Republicans. They only want power and will lie and distort the truth. Die hard supporters for both sides aren't going to change their votes. The Republicans just need to capture enough of the "Independent" voters which, along with the disenfranchised and turned away voters on election day, will give them the presidency. Then they can continue with their plans to turn the USA into a Fascist state which was so unexpectedly interrupted by Obama.

+17 # JSRaleigh 2012-08-20 15:24

Quoting Onterryo:

The truth does not matter to Republicans. They only want power and will lie and distort the truth.

They've already got the power they're going after the last few pennies they left to the rest of us.

-11 # Joeadventure 2012-08-21 03:27

Explain the me this "fascist" state? How has the GOP moved towards making this happen?

+13 # Onterryo 2012-08-21 04:59

Hopefully, you will first agree that Fascism and Socialism are opposites. GOP supporters like to call Democrats, liberals and progressives "socialists" (and there are those who call us "socialists and fascists" - go figure!). Fascism is identifited by a high level of nationalism. Fascists tend to be more religious and less tolerant of other religions as opposed to socialists who will usually not be as religious but inclusive as far as other faiths are concerned. Fascism usually involves an integration of state and corporate power. Fascists often talk in terms of "democracy" and "the people" and then subvert the very institutions (elections,voti ng restrictions, the Supreme Court, military, schools, etc.) that anchor the democracy. Sound familiar!? As Sinclair Lewis ("It Can't Happen Here" and "Elmer Gantry") said - "When fascism comes to America, it will be be wrapped in the flag and carrying a cross".

+68 # Buddha 2012-08-20 07:51

He doesn't even play a serious candidate on TV very well. Brit Hume has been making him look like a total fool by pointing out his inconsistancies in messaging and lack of specifics in his budget on FOX. All the GOP has are lies, the two whoppers of "Obama has ended the Welfare work requirement" and "Obama has gutted Medicare". And when all you have to put forward as an argument are complete lies, that says a lot about the validity of your platform....

+47 # BradFromSalem 2012-08-20 08:09

Any honest to goodness Republican will tell you that arithmetic is for wusses. Think about it. What professions are are known for prowess in the field of arithmetic? Accountants and Physicists. Everybody knows that accountants are all wusses, not real he-man, shoot first, ask questions later in the bunch. And physicists are also known as scientists. Adding insult to injury, their science includes something called imaginary numbers. Proof to the Republican mind that science is hokum.

So, will somebody explain to me why we should ever consider a person that refuses to care about adding up numbers and balancing the columns as relevant to a budget discussion for the job of President or Vice President. And the irony of irony is that the numbers supplied by Republicans are in fact imaginary since they manage to balance their budgets by multiplying everything by the square root of -1.

NEVER VOTE FOR A REPUBLICAN, THEY CANNOT DO 4TH GRADE ARITHMETIC!

+13 # reiverpacific 2012-08-20 09:00

Quoting BradFromSalem:

Any honest to goodness Republican will tell you that arithmetic is for wusses. Think about it. What professions are are known for prowess in the field of arithmetic? Accountants and Physicists. Everybody knows that accountants are all wusses, not real he-man, shoot first, ask questions later in the bunch. And physicists are also known as scientists. Adding insult to injury, their science includes something called imaginary numbers. Proof to the Republican mind that science is hokum.

So, will somebody explain to me why we should ever consider a person that refuses to care about adding up numbers and balancing the columns as relevant to a budget discussion for the job of President or Vice President. And the irony of irony is that the numbers supplied by Republicans are in fact imaginary since they manage to balance their budgets by multiplying everything by the square root of -1.

NEVER VOTE FOR A REPUBLICAN, THEY CANNOT DO 4TH GRADE ARITHMETIC!

Physicians use Mathematics -an amazing, almost limitless and creative tool, not Arithmetic. which is the language of Accountants and "on the box" minds.
The difference is -shall we say- as big as the Universe.

+21 # BradFromSalem 2012-08-20 09:16

I know, but Arithmetic is a subset of Mathematics. I doubt you are debating technicalities but your point does draw out a distinctive difference between Liberals and Conservatives. Conservatives will use a gross simplification like I just did, where we get caught up in the details.

And the difference between the two has created two separate universes.

+4 # reiverpacific 2012-08-20 14:46

Quoting BradFromSalem:

I know, but Arithmetic is a subset of Mathematics. I doubt you are debating technicalities but your point does draw out a distinctive difference between Liberals and Conservatives. Conservatives will use a gross simplification like I just did, where we get caught up in the details.

And the difference between the two has created two separate universes.

No big debate really. I know that I was pretty good at Mathematics in Architecture/St ructural engineering but Arithmetic gave me alternating panic attacks and near-terminal boredom (long sets of figures, long-division etc) and I bless the evolution of spread sheets.
Anyhoo we seem to be on the same page -I like that comment of yours on "Separate Universes" -indeed!

+2 # ghostperson 2012-08-23 00:41

Like your style.

Being a math fool all I can say is the GOP can't dazzle us with brillance but it often does blind us with bull shit.

+27 # mdhome 2012-08-20 10:10

It is shameful that more people in this country can't do enough math to realize they are going to be screwed/raped by the republicans if they get half a chance.

-13 # Joeadventure 2012-08-21 03:34

I guess the 5+ Trillion OBAMA has spent in 3.5 years that has pushed our debt to 16+ TRILLION hasn't screwed us?

-16 # Joeadventure 2012-08-21 03:30

Really? Does ANYONE in Washington, D.C. know the numbers better than Ryan. If so, Who? I know this; 16+ TRILLION + more handouts = bancruptcy

+29 # Antler 2012-08-20 08:17

He is as "Faux Populist" as they come. Actual populists are more outraged than Democrats are.

+4 # ghostperson 2012-08-23 00:46

He is a rich man who dabbles in the theories of Ayn Rand and Gordon Geeko. My theory is not theory per se, it is the Golden Rule. Yeah, I rationally believe in self interest--but I also rationally believe that we are all in this boat together. Throwing people overboard after hanging an anchor around their necks isn't my idea of a moral act. Who died and made rich people God? Had enough of this masters and serf crap.

+37 # Tigre1 2012-08-20 08:33

Lyin' Ryan...everybod y buy books on resistance and get ready as you will for the new Dark Ages. Prepare to be hunted by mobs of nazis and Tea Punks, KKK, etc. I kid you not. Here in NM we have serious problems, but our officials have not yet been completely infiltrated, although our local sheriff's department has, which gives me some insight, I think, into why our powerless DOJ hasn't prosecuted any financial criminals of importance.

If Romney(aka "raw money")wins, it's really all over. The Presidency is For Sale, and the SCOTUS has at least been partially bought for years...and most of the women I know can't put together and draw the dots from the GOPeers intent to gut the 13th and 14th amendment of citizenship for people born in this country...to the precedent of gutting the Amendment which gives votes to women...which an old Tea party doofus revealed to me last year.

Read Anne Frank again, but also "Deep Green Resistance" because most of us aren't at all prepared.

-15 # Joeadventure 2012-08-21 03:39

I am a GOP'er and I think you really need to relax and smile a little more. You are wrapped way too tight. I do nto want to get rid of ANY adendments. i do know that your hero Obama, with help from GW has almost Spent us into the dark ages. The can is at the end of the road. Ayn rand is the ONLY way. BTW...I am also stocking up to prepare what is to come-When the govt runs out of money you will need to protect what is yours from the mobs of "takers"

+2 # ghostperson 2012-08-23 00:56

Get a grip. The mob of takers is the 400 people who have wealth equivalent of the bottom 150 million in a country of 300 million. It wasn't Obama who took us from surplus to the verge of the Great Depression and to two wars. It was the co-Potus' Darth Vader and the village idiot. By the way, Ayn Rand that great individualist seems to have forgotten the force of her convictions when she went on Social Security and Medicare. Now that was "rationsl self-interest." Do as I say, not as I do. Re Obama, he is what used to be a moderate Republican. As for running us into the ground. Check the comparison charts of the administrations since 1980. You will find that Ronnie of the Rock of Gibralter hair-do increased the national debt from $80 to $300 billion (for defense) by deficit spending. TARP was Bush lite's brain child already in motion with "O" got there. I don't like any of them. But I'll go with the guy who at least knows that I am alive and not something to grind up to give more money to rich folk.

-22 # Tigre1 2012-08-20 08:34

Oh, and thanks, kids, for not printing my comments lately. I test people a lot, purposely. Read my suggested reading list and understand...

+30 # mjc 2012-08-20 08:50

Comments on the New York Times are closed! Only 700+. But as usual Krugman can nail Ryan all he wants but still the Teapublicans don't want to hear it. Amazing that more attention to the difference between the proposed revenue and proposed deficit are not more widely published by the American media. But Ryan's budget and its loving believers aren't the only thing that should scare American voters. This GOP ticket shouldn't be allowed anywhere near the White House.

-24 # dick 2012-08-20 08:51

Actually, Larry Summers (Clinton, Obama) has done a TRILLION times the damage of piker Paul, & NEVER been held accountable, stigmatized, ostracized, by Dems. Ryan & Larry, W & Barry, ALL work for the same BOSSES, on Wall St. Rubin-Paulsen-S achs,Inc.

+27 # LeeBlack 2012-08-20 08:56

It seems to me that the people who want the Government to do nothing but Defense are the same ones who scream loudest when the government doesn't do a good job of cleaning up an oil spill or helping residents of a disaster, like Hurricane Katrina; or a plane crashes because the FAA wasn't on top of things; or a child eats a burger with salmonella.

They want to rule by theory and ignore reality.

+32 # Art947 2012-08-20 08:58

I am reminded of the greatest liar in American presidential politics, Richard M. Nixon. He wasn't called "Tricky Dick" for nothing. If you lived through the diastrous era of the Vietnam "War," then you might remember that he had a "secret plan" to end the war and bring the troops home. His secret plan turned into the illegal bombing of Laos and Cambodia!

Mr. Romeny and Mr. Ryan also seem to have secret plans to reduce the deficit, promote the economy, create jobs, etc., etc., etc. Unfortunately NONE of their plans hold water! These liars have never spoken an honest word. They lie even when they are confronted with the truth of what they have committed to paper!

ANYONE who votes for these traitors to the values of America deserves the wrath of the money god that they worship.

When will we ever have an electorate that votes for sound ideas rather than ill-disguised idealogy?

+27 # motamanx 2012-08-20 09:13

I would say, Art947, that Dick Cheney come close to Tricky Dick when it comes to mendacity. Never forget that Cheney's first job as appointed VP was to ascertain the possibility of a terrorist attack on the US--this was in May, 2001. He never held a single meeting. Instead, he built a bunker for himself in an undisclosed location. Remember? When 9/11 occurred he was…where? That has never bee adequately described. He lied to the CIA about Iraq to foster an illegal war there. He OK'd torture and was wrong about virtually everything he touched. He made his friends rich at the expense of the environment. Will Ryan be better than this? It would be hard to be worse, but I bet he'll give it a try.

+1 # ghostperson 2012-08-23 01:02

Nixon was smart and cunning. The "Dick" was an ego on two sticks, Imperial presidency? Since when did we elect emperors? Privileged white males have lost the right to lead this country. All they do is take us over the cliff. Let's send our mothers to D.C. and let them fix this unholy mess, the same way they do when they clean out monster closets.

+25 # BradFromSalem 2012-08-20 09:21

Every time a Republican says they have a secret plan to solve something, I get horrible flashbacks of Nixon's secret plan. Of course his plan had to be secret since it involved a successfully executed treasonous act to allow the war to continue into his administration.
So far, I have never heard a Democrat claim a secret plan; why do only Republicans have them?

+16 # Majikman 2012-08-20 11:04

Brad, you nailed it. John McCain also had a "secret plan" to resolve the Iraq/Afghanista n issue only to be divulged after he won the election. I shudder to think what that hawk's "solution" would have been.

+6 # BradFromSalem 2012-08-20 12:03

Majikman,

I forgot that. Good one.

+12 # feloneouscat 2012-08-20 12:16

Of course it has to be a "secret plan" - if they told us, we wouldn't vote for them.

THAT is why Republicans seem to have these secret plans.

+4 # Lennie 2012-08-20 20:03

Yup, Brad. I wonder how many died during the time between when Tricky Dick spoke of his secret plan and when he won the Presidency? Notwithstanding the fact that his "plan" was baloney. A real "Patriot" would have told us of his idea without concern for the elections, then or now. Good plan or lousy one, tell us what it is. Dream on, right?

+8 # tclose 2012-08-20 10:02

Good point, Art. I had not made that connection, but it is right on. Especially for those of us who lived through that "disastrous era".

+26 # chrisconnolly 2012-08-20 09:56

DICK Cheney had another secret plan: Fracking. All of the fracking plans of war against the American people were held behind closed doors and came up with the energy plan strategy of being immune to the Clean Water Act. These republicans need to be sent back to hell where they came from.

-17 # dbriz 2012-08-20 09:58

Professor Krugman is quite correct about the Ryan Plan. It is based on smoke and mirror beltway style accounting.

But in interest of full disclosure it should be mentioned that the good Professor has never shown any concern about the deficits when suggesting his own plan for massive government deficit spending.

+14 # robniel 2012-08-20 11:36

Problem solving 101: First restore the economy, then attack the deficit. Solving in reverse will give you a depression.

-5 # dbriz 2012-08-20 12:58

Beware simplistic thinking.

Math 101: Geometric progression and exponential growth of debt.

At our present rate we would have to have economic growth at approx 6% annually just to stay even with our debt.

Since 1948 we've averaged slightly over 3%.

Do the math. It's not 1932. It's worse.

+4 # pbbrodie 2012-08-20 17:49

So, what do you think of Ryan's budget, that adds considerably to the deficit and thus the national debt?
Also, I've done the math and your numbers do not add up at all. Where did you get the figures you used? Most specifically, what are you using as "our" current rate and current rate of what?
I believe it is you who are guilty of simplistic thinking and do not understand the deficit or national debt.

-1 # dbriz 2012-08-21 06:21

Read the thread more carefully and you will note I have already given my opinion about Ryan's budget.

If your math "skills" lead you to believe we are not nearing the point of no return re our national debt, you are flying in the face of reality.

Even the current administration recognizes the problem. Unfortunately neither party has the political will to deal with it.

"My" figures are easily verifiable. Go back to 1948 until current and average the growth figures yourself.

If you can't see that our debt is exploding exponentially I can only commend you for your ability to see oranges on an apple tree.

+4 # Onterryo 2012-08-21 08:53

The trick is to manage spending cuts and taxation increases so as to not push America back into a recession. Growth will makes the "pie" larger and also reduces the government expenditures associated with unemployment. The Democrats are willing to negotiate spending cuts, especially to the Defense budget, but there is no willingness on the GOP side to increase taxes for those who will suffer the least, i.e. the 1%, or cut the Defense budget. I have absolutely no faith in Ryanomics just as I had none in "trickle down economics". BTW I was a banker for 27 years, have an MBA in Finance so I would like to think I am informed enough to comment on this serious issue....oh...a n US Stocks hit 4-yr high today...about time for the billionaires to start investing in the US again but no...they want to wait for Romney for fear of making Obama look good. Lastly, as I think you and both agree...debt has exploded. Does it need to continue to do so? No, not if Congress and the President work for Americans and not their rich friends.

+1 # WolfTotem 2012-08-20 13:46

They can't count.

But you DON'T count.

By the time these guys have counted their futures, you have none.

+10 # fhunter 2012-08-20 15:07

Mr. Ryan is an unserious man, indeed, but a very dangerous one. We have more than 60 million MORONS in this country, who voted for GWB twice! (I refuse to write out GWB name because my great respect and admiration for his father). They will go for the Ryan-nonsense just the same.

+11 # WolfTotem 2012-08-20 15:13

Another point. As Ryan presents himself as a Catholic, he ought to pay some attention to the words of a Pope. How does he square his idolatry of Rand and his current policy proposals with this statement by Pope John Paul II?

“The excessive hoarding of riches by some denies them to the majority, and thus the very wealth that is accumulated generates poverty.”

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