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Just what conservative media needed: another embarrassing misstep.
Breitbart.com ridiculed Paul Krugman for filing for Chapter 13 bankruptcy protection in a since-deleted post whose claims originated with a satire website. Just last month, Breitbart.com castigated a news outlet for running with a story from that same website.
Yes, this morning, Breitbart.com, a prominent far-right news site, published a piece claiming the Nobel Laureate has filed for bankruptcy, which is not true. The report was based on a satirical item published by a humor site called the Daily Currant.
This morning, Krugman said he caught wind of the joke a few days ago, but didn't say anything because he wanted to see "which right-wing media outlets would fall for the hoax." Krugman added, "And Breitbart.com came through! Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to go give a lavishly paid speech to Friends of Hamas."
In fairness, it's true that some satirical items can sometimes seem true, and will occasionally trip up unsuspecting folks in media. I remember when it happened to me nine years ago, and I'm still kicking myself for getting fooled. (Of course, when I fell for a gag, I ran a correction. When Breitbart.com was wrong, it deleted the content as if it hadn't been published.)
But the latest misstep comes against an unfortunate backdrop: the Daily Caller's dubious Menendez scandal; Friends of Hamas; the right falling for Bob Woodward's recent claims; "Unskewed Polls"; Malaysian propaganda, etc.
Erick Erickson complained the other day, "I think conservative media is failing to advance ideas and stories. That's true, but increasingly, they're failing to get the basics right, too.
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Gee why would any one knowing Krugman is the primary proponent of borrowing money that will never be repaid, fall for a bankruptcy story? At worst this highlights a glaring double standard in Krugman's thinking.
Annie Oakley: You are right... it's Krugmans fault Breitbart are a bunch of liars...
Shooter,
Apparently you are incorrect in your assumption.
Please give me ONE link to where Krugman has ever said that he doesn't expect loans to be repaid.
Up is down, black is white, and praying for the day when Krugman is actually wrong about something.
LOL
Dog, he isn't going to say it, but I will. Any idea how long it's been since the national debt was reduced/paid down/paid back? And no, Clinton didn't reduce the total debt.
Please stop equating the country's economic health with Xmas accounts at Macy's.
Nobel Laureate FTW over Glen Beck trolls.
Shooter
You should Read more...and assert less
http://www.cbo.gov/publication/21999
http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/07/22/debt-and-forgetfulness/
Really? When was the last time your credit card bill said you owe a pecentage of your income? No, they ask for dollar amounts, and in actual dollar amounts we haven't paid down our debt for over half a century.
According to the Treasury Dept debt was last paid down in 1957. And no, paying off borrowed money with borrowed money isn't paying down the debt. http://www.treasurydirect.gov/govt/reports/pd/histdebt/histdebt_histo4.htm
PS. When you see an economist tightly define something ask yourself why. Krugman cites public debt, while Treasury cites total debt. Does Krugman think internal debt like SS won't get paid? It's still borrowed money.
Shooter,
Simple nonsense.
I asked a question about Krugman and the statement that you made. You responded that Krugman never made the statement. So since this is apparently something that you knew before you made the statement, you are an admitted liar.
The rest of your post is irrelevant to Krugman's finances.
It's not borrowed it's our own currency...we SELL it. You are either deliberately forgetting or ignoring some economic basics...first that GDP which is the measure of the ability of the American People to produce goods and services...and as you love to point out people don't work for free and second that there is "Good Debt" and "Bad Debt"...ever heard of people being turned down for a loan not because they have "Bad" credit but because they have "No" credit? this is the same thing...
So Dog, should we assume that Krugman won't say the money won't be paid back because... one he's aware how much advocating fraud hurts his case... two because he actually believes we can pay down the debt.... or three, he's unaware that total debt hasn't been paid down since 1957?
Since he's careful enough to discriminate between all our debt, and a particular kind of debt, number one is obviously true. Either that or you think he's a moron.
Shooter.
No we shouldn't assume anything. He never made the statement. You said he did.
If you'd like me to start picking apart the logic fallacies that your attempting to use here, I can. But since you're so intelligent, I'm sure you know what they are.
Dragoon, of course it's all borrowed. That's the actual mechanism used to print. Treasury prints up promises to pay (bonds), and sells the bonds to the Fed, who electronically changes the national checking account balance.
We as a nation have promised to pay back the Fed those dollars. It doesn't matter what our GDP is, when one lives day-to-day on borrowed money, by definition the balance will never be paid down, just increase. Day after day after day.
As for good debt vs bad debt, (heh) good debt is the kind that when used the amount borrowed is earned back, plus a profit. Federal debt is the worst debt because the proceeds don't earn back anything. The amount borrowed, simply gets spent. And more is borrowed the day after.
Given the schoolyard choice between two options crafted to supposedly win an argument regardless, then yes, that word could very well apply here. Although perhaps not in the manner intended.
OK Dog if you want to ding me for not distinguishing between what Krugman proposes, your assumption of what that entails, and what actually happens, be my guest.
Shooter doesn't care about his argument, he doesn't even necessarily believe his argument, he only cares that he pissed you all off into responding. So congratulations, if shooting off batches of baby goo into a sock could result in actually producing offspring, I'm sure shooter would name that little sock baby after this blog, proudly.
http://moelane.com/2012/06/09/troll-hunting-101/comment-page-1/
That is absolute complete and total Bull!
You get Public education of all levels! You get a healthy population and workforce! You get Public safety and national security! Transportation, power, water... you get America!
Very, very well said.
You have to remember, Dragoon, that in the mindset of Makers & Takers, the only money well spent are funds that make you more money in immediate return. Society is far less important than the people profiting from it.
These are not well people. I'd even go so far as to say they are not good people. Repugnant things come out of their mouth, so we call them Poop Shooters.
Rah-rah, sis-boom-ba. You can wave that flag til the cows come home and how you get that money is still a different issue from what it's spent on. Fraud spent on worthy causes is still fraud.
The fact remains that 42 cents of every dollar FedGov spends is borrowed. The fact also remains that all that pile of debt hasn't been reduced since 1957. That's over half a century. If it walks like a duck....
You're confusing "worthy causes" with infrastructure, security and education. These aren't causes, they are responsibilities.
Quack.
Quack.
Quack.
We should keep this up, keep planting stupid stories. O'Keefe these liars...
see where he just lost his case in California and has to paid 100K to Mr Vargas (sp).
should be doing jail time.
"Yes, this morning, Breitbart.com, a prominent far-right news site..."
You have to be kidding me! Breitbart is journalism that rivals yellow snow...where the huskey's go!
What should we expect from wingnut media - we're dealing with people who lack both frontal lobes and opposable thumbs.
TC - they have frontal lobes, they've just had lobotomies performed on them....
Zora: yes, they have, and they have the certificates to prove it so they can join up.
Funny.
Most competent editors are pretty demanding that stories be substantiated by multiple sources, not just one.
In their desire to be the first news source with the story, the news outlets have simply made fools of themselves.
No, in their desire to keep pushing the propaganda, the right wing disinformation system takes whatever it can get, knowing it's audience doesn't have the brains to find the zipper on their fly with both hands on a clear day with a 4-hour advance notice.
Fixed it for you.
Satirical sites are closely related to conservative media since both transact in non-reality.
Maybe a rumor that POTUS will willingly sign Ryans budget plan as soon as it hits his desk.
Paul Krugman has cleared the Florida Everglades of Burmese Pythons. He did it last Thursday afternoon following his morning triathlon work out.
It's well known that Krugman regularly trains for triathlons in the Everglades. The pythons clear the trails before him. Some say it's like the parting of the Red Sea.
I heard he is pushing for a pathway for those pythons. In his proposal if the pythons can prove they only constricted progressive rodents, they will be allowed to apply for special status.
This is just emblematic of "Conservative Media" as a whole...the problem is two fold
First that they are before anything else "Conservative" Media...they will pounce on things that support their agenda and there just hasn't been a whole lot of either good "Conservative" news or bad "Liberal" news to get web traffic or sell papers.
second and I do hate to say this but I am just being honest I think a lot of this goes to the talent and education of conservative media and its reporters. I honestly can't think of a lot of them off the top of my head who are school trained journalists or who have professional backgrounds in any field beyond marketing and advertising...when you mate that with a seemingly pathological need for scandal and "Gotcha" stories it doesn't surprise me at all when people jump the gun.
The last thing and I think this is tertiary but still a legitimate part of the problem is who their audience is...these are people who have openly professed their distaste for "Critical thinking Skills" and are the very reason the word "Truthieness" was coined in the first place...so fact checking is already at a pretty low bar to begin with.
Excellent analysis of media bias. While "both sides do it", the Right seems to revel in castigating the left on every issue, no matter how dizzy they get from the spin.
Earlier today I a saw a piece on robotic prosthetic legs for vets that allowed them to walk. Of course it was on FOX, so they couldn't resist including the "fact' that Obama would put a tax on medical devices.
My personal favorite piece of recent FOX Spin is that they have taken to referring to the current administration as the "Obama Regime"...and while that might be strictly speaking grammatically correct it is rhetorically highly loaded and inflammatory phraseology...
Even better was when a rash of Republicans were caught up in personal scandals, Fox News would identify them as "D" when reporting "news." This was not an accident because it happened 3 or 4 times in a short period of time. I believe they were Larry Craig, Mark Foley and Sanford.
In June of 2012, Paul Krugman was the midwife for the baby given birth to by Mitch McConnell's niece, and fathered by her Uruguayan lover, Maximiliano Montezuma. Krugman was paid in rubies and pork rinds and sworn to silence regarding the matter.
Excuse me, the phones ringing. Daily Caller on line two.
glad he clowned these clowns
What is really amazing is that it isn't hard to find out who has filed a bankruptcy. Our bankruptcy records are on line and anyone with access to the internet can look it up. All you have to know is how Krugman spells his name and where he lives. Talk about a lack of editorial standards.
Paul Krugman was the actual author of AC/DC's "Hells Bells" and he co-wrote "You're So Vain" with Carly Simon when they were living together in Greenwich Village in 1971 when he was 18 and she was like 26 and on the rebound... Dude.
Yeah... Carly got pissed when Krugman flew his LearJet to Nova Scotia to see the total eclipse of the sun...
Let's just get our own "countdown clock" to designate when the GOP stops being the "stupid party". Not with hours, but decades.