As a result, everyone in the political class — by which I mean politicians, people in the news media, and so on, basically whoever is in a position to influence the final stage of this legislative marathon — now has to make a choice. The seemingly impossible dream of fundamental health reform is just a few steps away from becoming reality, and each player has to decide whether he or she is going to help it across the finish line or stand in its way…
I won’t try to psychoanalyze the “naysayers,” as Mr. Orszag describes them. I’d just urge them to take a good hard look in the mirror. If they really want to align themselves with the hard-line conservatives, if they just want to kill health reform, so be it. But they shouldn’t hide behind claims that they really, truly would support health care reform if only it were better designed.
For this is the moment of truth. The political environment is as favorable for reform as it’s likely to get. The legislation on the table isn’t perfect, but it’s as good as anyone could reasonably have expected. History is about to be made — and everyone has to decide which side they’re on.
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That’s funny I didn’t think people were suppose to know that people in the media are part of the political class. All of it?
Cindy Munford on October 30, 2009 at 12:15 PM
Is his point that you must support something even if it sucks, because it’s intentions are good?
lorien1973 on October 30, 2009 at 12:16 PM
No, they don’t want the massive government and the ludicrous inefficiency these ideas of ‘universal health care’ represent.
michaelo on October 30, 2009 at 12:16 PM
I can’t stand Krugman at all.
LibertarianRepublican on October 30, 2009 at 12:16 PM
FIFY
WisCon on October 30, 2009 at 12:16 PM
For this is the moment of truth. The political environment is as favorable for reform as it’s likely to get. The legislation on the table isn’t perfect, but it’s as good as anyone could reasonably have expected. History is about to be made — and everyone has to decide which side they’re on.
How in the hell is 2,000 pages considered a reasonable expectation?
Furthermore, I know this topic is getting old, but since when is the role of the news media to “decide which side they’re on?”
Krugman = Douchenozzle
bighead4 on October 30, 2009 at 12:17 PM
I thought the defining moment was back before the recess? Maybe the defining moment was when hundreds of congressmen and senators were forced to eat a big bite of a crap sandwich from their constituents–that was pretty defining of a moment, eh Paul?!
ted c on October 30, 2009 at 12:17 PM
He’s in a rage. The mask has slipped and he’s stomping on it.
the_nile on October 30, 2009 at 12:17 PM
Fail! Fail! Fail!
joe_doufu on October 30, 2009 at 12:17 PM
Are you threating me!
Talk about a wrinkle, this guy had to publish this? LOL!
upinak on October 30, 2009 at 12:17 PM
ugh threatening… need more coffee.
upinak on October 30, 2009 at 12:18 PM
Let’s hope common sense prevails.
OmahaConservative on October 30, 2009 at 12:19 PM
Flop sweat.
a capella on October 30, 2009 at 12:19 PM
They already are, pantload, which is why a ‘rat controlled congress White House can’t even get their own members to sign off on it.
Bishop on October 30, 2009 at 12:20 PM
This article is simply over the top.
SouthernGent on October 30, 2009 at 12:21 PM
Socialist wet dream.
John the Libertarian on October 30, 2009 at 12:21 PM
Krugman sure looks hot in that cheerleader outfit he’s wearing.
RA RA RA! GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO HEALTHCARE!
thebrokenrattle on October 30, 2009 at 12:21 PM
I hope he fails.
OmahaConservative on October 30, 2009 at 12:21 PM
WTF…?
bigjack on October 30, 2009 at 12:22 PM
US?? Did the slimy little pri*k get elected to office when I wasn’t looking???
BigWyo on October 30, 2009 at 12:22 PM
The government that cannot deliver swine flu vaccines on time is the same government that is going to run our complete health care system? I smell fear in Kruggie’s words and rightly so.
d1carter on October 30, 2009 at 12:22 PM
“Pantload”. Too funny!
Key West Reader on October 30, 2009 at 12:23 PM
This is the moment of truth. Marxists are all out in the open now. They have come out of hiding. There are no more mysteries.
Which side are you on, indeed.
faraway on October 30, 2009 at 12:23 PM
Did the White House pre-approve this story, Paul? Or, are you waiting to hear back from the White House about whether or not you will need to go back and change parts of your article?
Joe Caps on October 30, 2009 at 12:23 PM
OmahaConservative on October 30, 2009 at 12:23 PM
For such an acclaimed academic, Krugman writes some of the most facile, intellectually bankrupt tripe out there.
Revenant on October 30, 2009 at 12:24 PM
“You’re either with us or against us!” Only Sith deal with absolutes, Paul.
CIVILITY NOW!
BTW: I hope he fails.
Techie on October 30, 2009 at 12:25 PM
Standard disclaimer:
Remember, what former Enron advisor Krugs “won” last year is not a real Nobel Prize. It’s a Memorial Prize in Economics established nearly a century after the original Nobel Prizes were established. The Nobel Committee “administers” it, but on their website they state that it is not a “Nobel Prize”.
Del Dolemonte on October 30, 2009 at 12:25 PM
Also, my initial response would be in the worlds of The Great Cornholio
Are you threatening me?!?!
Techie on October 30, 2009 at 12:26 PM
Krugman is on the verge of losing it. If this doesn’t pass, his past bitterness and unhinged-ness are going to look positively sane.
Missy on October 30, 2009 at 12:27 PM
Great economic analysis former Enron adviser Paul Krugman!
Caper29 on October 30, 2009 at 12:28 PM
He’s about to cry.
karlant on October 30, 2009 at 12:31 PM
The Associated Press’s list of the Top 10 Quotes of 2008 featured two from Nobel-winning economist Paul Krugman. But Krugman, it turns out, was not actually quotable enough to merit credit for either.The AP obviously wanted some good easy-to-understand pithy quotes from economist types, this year, to round out their list, because the economy has cratered and no one understands what’s going on. So they listed two from Krugman:
10. (tie) “Cash for trash.” — Paul Krugman discussing the financial bailout, New York Times, Sept. 22.
10. (tie) “There are no atheists in foxholes and there are no libertarians in financial crises.” — Krugman, in an interview with Bill Maher on HBO’s “Real Time,” broadcast Sept. 19.
The problem, as Krugman immediately pointed out, is that he borrowed the “atheists in foxholes” line from Jeff Frankel and the second line is not even a “quote,” it’s a catchy rhyming saying that can’t be attributed to anyone.
And so now the AP has issued its correction. Paul Krugman, not actually worth quoting.
The real scandal is that both quotes were tied for number 10, which means it wasn’t even a proper top ten list. Where is your correction of that, Associated Press? They even stuck in an extraneous third “tenth” quote from Donald Luskin, making it a “Top 12″ list, and therefore useless as a piece of year-end filler journalism. Shame.
OmahaConservative on October 30, 2009 at 12:33 PM
ooooops.
OmahaConservative on October 30, 2009 at 12:34 PM
Oh this doesn’t piss me off at all; No sir, it’s just peachy that “journalists” have opinions too, and please- don’t hold back! Obviously you’re way smarter than I could ever be. Please read the bill for me and then very clearly, (double spaced please,) print it in your fine newspaper and I will march in accordance to your superior judgement.
anniekc on October 30, 2009 at 12:34 PM
History is about to be made, all right. I will give Krugman that. I just think it isn’t the kind of history he is going to like very much.
rockmom on October 30, 2009 at 12:34 PM
I still remember Krugman’s look when he was seated next to O’Reilly on Tim Russert’s CNBC show. If his eyes could have taken out a restraining order against O’Reilly out of fear he was going to attack, they would have (and I could picture a terrified Paul Krugman being chased around some studio by Charles Krauthammer in his wheelchair out of fear that Charles might go after him).
jon1979 on October 30, 2009 at 12:37 PM
OT: “I think President Obama has used the bully pulpit as a way to attack capitalism,”
- Jeb Bush
faraway on October 30, 2009 at 12:38 PM
Krugman the Kommunist.
The communist democrats already have all the votes they need to pass anything they want. Trying to pass the blame onto a powerless minority is pure cowardice. That’s what the communist democrats are anyway … thugs, cowards, crooks.
“If they really want to align themselves with the hard-line conservatives, if they just want to kill health reform, so be it.”
Yes, I really want to align myself with “hard-line” conservatives and I really want to kill your communist health care.
darwin on October 30, 2009 at 12:38 PM
State run media wants to know, when it gets hauled up before a Nuremburg-style criminal commission for complicity in the destruction of our national health care — this will happen in a few years — they wonder if anyone from the WH will be there to run cover for them or whether they’re on their own.
jeff_from_mpls on October 30, 2009 at 12:42 PM
But that’s exactly what I think, a**hole. What’s being considered isn’t healthcare reform; it’s healthcare welfare.
BuckeyeSam on October 30, 2009 at 12:43 PM
I think this story is too critical of Obama – Grow Fins
lorien1973 on October 30, 2009 at 12:46 PM
As usual, the most simplistic definition of conservative opposition available should satisfy leftard wingnuts. It seems to be all that PK can muster in his haste to urge progressive authoritarians to support the Europeanization of America. Once established, we can literally rename ourselves to Amerika.
.
This “hurry up to destiny” BullShit sounds all too familiar from the “political class” unless someone here doesn’t remember $1.9 TRILLION in new debt since last October PLUS the deficit authorized by the Democrat Congress to begin the new fiscal year last October.
.
One little problem remains and that is to squelch opposition and alternative solutions from truly concerned conservatives so that wage earners and Schedule C taxpayers will be saddled with tax after tax after tax in the name of “General Welfare” and Health Care Reform. Good luck finding your doctor in five years – there will be hell to pay unless you are one of the “exempted classes” for whom this monstrosity is not an issue of concern.
.
“Hurry up to destiny,” Political Class because when the angry mob votes you out of office in 2010 there will not be a chance in hell of this happening again for 20, 30 years. Paul Krugman knows that but he won’t write it.
ExpressoBold on October 30, 2009 at 12:52 PM
Liberals sure do want us to be like everyone else, regardless of how stupid or costly it is. They hate individuals. I find that creepy.
Cindy Munford on October 30, 2009 at 12:55 PM
It must be sheer hell for Krugman to see his dream of a thought-controlled, totalitarian state so close to realization, with only patriotic Americans and the Constitution standing in the way….
MrScribbler on October 30, 2009 at 12:58 PM
Yes, by all means, let us know which side you’re on, and ASAP. We want to be sure we know who the traitors are when we kick your sorry a$$es out of office, and/or boycott your media businesses.
AZCoyote on October 30, 2009 at 1:05 PM
Krugman needs to be put out to pasture. He’s a friggin’ idiot.
DerKrieger on October 30, 2009 at 1:06 PM
Is that a rhetorical question?
nolapol on October 30, 2009 at 1:18 PM
I’d say that last part of the sentence seems like a poor choice of words in light of what he’s talking about.
4shoes on October 30, 2009 at 1:24 PM
I had to LOL. It is hard to read der Krugel. The Big Squirt writes as if he is sharing universal truths:
Taxing high-cost insurance is the holy grail of Health Care nationalizers who insist it will drive down costs as if high cost insurers pay more for hospital rooms.
High-cost insurers insure more. If low cost insurers pay less it is because they use their enrollment numbers to force providers to accept below cost. The reason providers charge ten dollars for an aspirin is because providers are required to absorb costs from government mandates, deadbeats, illegal alien treatment, low-cost insurer blackmail, and lawsuit.
What drove medical care up originally was Medicare. All fees leveled up to what Medicare pays.
What destroyed medical costs was lawyers attacking the exploding advances in medical treatments, the new legal obligation to treat anyone who walks into ER with no reimbursement from the government, and mandates.
If everyone was on Medicaid, we would not have super cardiac facilities, particle accelerators, MRIs to diagnose arthritis etc.
DerKrugel’s point about the need to establish an independent Medicare commission to control costs is inane. Why not just bring back the 911 commission? These useless commissions are interchangeable and serve as paychecks and payoffs for the members. They either rubber stamp what the bosses want or are ignored.
The only pathway I have seen to control costs in the proposed nationalization seems to be euthanesia and abortion. If euthanesia is truly voluntary, you don’t need to give folk the pros and cons for $35 a pop. Just get the signature and kill them
They want dead or they don’t. If they don’t, it is not up to us to convince them death is a viable option
entagor on October 30, 2009 at 1:56 PM
FIFY again.
UltimateBob on October 30, 2009 at 2:03 PM
I’m beginning to question Herr Doktor Professor Krugman’s obectivity and independence.
Call me a wingnut if you insist. Indeed, a seditious wingnut.
SteveMG on October 30, 2009 at 2:05 PM
Errr, Ahh I thought the media was supposed to be impartial, a fourth branch of the government, free press, First Amendment and all that.
Now you tell us they are the Joseph Goebbels of Obama’s THIRD REICH? Who woulda thunk it?
Herb on October 30, 2009 at 2:08 PM
What happened to Krugman’s earlier claim that the news media was, and was supposed to be neutral on policy issues?
Now he wants them to openly declare themselves as players.
MarkTheGreat on October 30, 2009 at 2:09 PM
Krugman is the type that wouldn’t think twice about executing all who disagree if he could get away with it. The only thing stopping him right now is that he’d get thrown in jail.
SirGawain on October 30, 2009 at 2:54 PM
Paul Krugman is outhouse rat insane if he thinks that ObamaCare is going to pass without a hard fought fight from those of us who actually care about liberty and personal choice.
Sure, he is entitled to his opinion, and we don’t have to like it. But his call to take sides in his column reminds me of Aquaman using telepathy to summon the sea creatures to do his bidding. Those of like mindedness with Krugman are already doing so, and they can only do so much.
If the country has reached the tipping point where the majority of its citizens desire ObamaCare more than not, we are finished.
itzWicks on October 30, 2009 at 3:27 PM
And if you want proof – look at Great Britain. Their National Health Service is the mother of all bureaucracies and the biggest employer in Europe.
It offers terrible patient care and costs the earth. Of course like all socialist schemes it treats the elites quite well though – politicians, celebrities, famous scientists like Stephen Hawking. But good luck Joe Schmo if you want a hip replacement before 2013. Here, have some crutches, trick.
Anders on October 30, 2009 at 3:39 PM
Paul Krugman is a soiled diaper with arms and legs; the kind of douchebag who really needs an entire website devoted to reporting his lies and inaccuracies. But then again life is too short and the man writes for the New York Times which means he’s never going to change anyone’s mind.
Sharke on October 30, 2009 at 3:46 PM