New York Times columnist Paul Krugman was in his predictable defend Obama at all costs mode on Sunday's "This Week."
When former Bush administration official Torie Clarke said unemployment remains high because the private sector is concerned about future regulations, the Nobel Laureate scoffed, "All of this stuff about uncertainty is just a myth being made up to blame this on Obama" (video follows with transcript and commentary):
TORIE CLARKE, FORMER ASSISTANT SECRETARY OF DEFENSE: But here’s the failure of policy I think. What would really get the private sector humming and hiring a lot of people is if they have predictability and certainty about things like regulatory regimes, and are some of these trade agreements going to go through that we really need because it is a global picture and not just a domestic one. And I know there’s a lot going on, but nobody seems to be focusing on that. Not the Administration, not Congress, and Paul’s laughing, but you agree?
CLARKE: No, money’s a coward. Money’s a coward: it’s not going to go unless it can make money.
KRUGMAN: There’s nothing in there. There’s nothing in there. It’s exactly what you’d expect.
You have to wonder whether Krugman is actually this clueless or if he knows what he's saying is nonsense but understands how important it is for him to deflect criticism of Obama regardless of merit.
There's absolutely no question small, medium, and large businesses are concerned about ObamaCare for example and exactly how it's going to impact them. Until the Supreme Court rules on its Constitutionality, no employer knows what they have to comply with concerning this legislation.
Taxes are another issue, for the compromise the White House reached with Congress in December only settled this question through 2012. No one knows what tax rates are going to be in 2013, and this has to be acting as a business inhibitor.
So, too, is the possibility the Environmental Protection Agency will begin regulating carbon dioxide emissions.
Almost as important are concerns throughout the banking, lending, and real estate industries that changes to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac might further shock the mortgage market.
And the entire oil industry is currently being inhibited by Obama-imposed restrictions on offshore drilling.
The reality is there are a huge number of uncertainties that companies have to deal with as a result of this Administration's business-unfriendly posture, and the idea that someone like Krugman thinks this isn't having the slightest negative impact on hiring is absurd.
Ironically, this Nobel laureate wonders why voters are so ill-informed.
