Krugman Calls Out Romney for Being Cynical

Political hack Economist Paul Krugman is calling out Mitt Romney for his attack on Obamacare. Since Obamacare is simply Romneycare of Massachusetts on steroids, Krugman does have a point. Krugman calls Romney's current position on Obamacare, The Unbearable Cynicism of Being Mitt and writes of Romney's attack on Obamacare:

Romney is not a stupid man; nor is he, as best one can tell, temperamentally an extremist. So he has to know that he’s talking total nonsense. The only major expansion of the state Obama is pursuing is a health care plan that is, ahem, essentially identical to what Romney did in Massachusetts.

Krugman does go to far here. There's a lot more government expansion beyond healthcare. The military budget is already huge but, by any definition, the military continues to expand significantly

Indeed, Obama is expanding U.S. military operations in  Pakistan, Libya. And who knows what other military plans are on the horizon? General Wesley Clarke indicates they could be significant.

So when Krugman states that "the only way to keep federal spending below 20 percent of GDP would be to impose savage cuts on Medicare and Social Security," he is simply wrong. As Ron Paul has pointed out on numerous occasions, halting military adventurism abroad would be a major start in providing funds that could be designated for Medicare and SS.

Krugman is also in a huff  about Romney saying:

We are only inches away from ceasing to be a free market economy.

This is, of course, political posturing by Romney, but it doesn't mean his words aren't true. Krugman thinks Romney is kowtowing to "extremists" here. But it is difficult not to think Romney is correct on this matter. How much of a free market is there when big banks are bailed out by the government and not permitted to fail? Just yesterday, a court ruled that American Airlines must list its flights on Orbitz. It's hard to think we are anywhere near being a free market, with these type events going on daily. Regulating healthcare is nothing but another advancment toward Mussolini economics.

It's unlikely Romney is serious about halting expansionist government, so Krugman is correct there, but Krugman's charge that government isn't expanding in a multitude of differnt directions is laughable, and much more of a cynical statment than Romney's absurdities. Krugman may be trying to be cute and define government expansionism only in terms of dollars spent, but let him try to tell me that when he has his shoes off and undergoing a crotch pat at the airport.