The Other McCain

"One should either write ruthlessly what one believes to be the truth, or else shut up." — Arthur Koestler

Krugman, Did You Just Argue Against People Exercising Basic Liberty?

Posted on | September 9, 2014 | 47 Comments

by Smitty

. . .polling suggests that support for [Scottish] independence has surged over the past few months, largely because pro-independence campaigners have managed to reduce the “fear factor” — that is, concern about the economic risks of going it alone. At this point the outcome looks like a tossup.

Well, I have a message for the Scots: Be afraid, be very afraid. The risks of going it alone are huge.

Irrespective of the rational arguments that are to be made, Krugman you’re arguing against the advice of a man who’s boots you’re unfit to polish:

Never take counsel of your fears.

Had I a vote in Alba, I’d straight up vote for independence. Not because of the probability of anything in your cheap parade of horribles coming to pass, Krugman, but just because I can’t think of anything good ever occurring in history through heeding the advice of a craven little pecksniff such as yourself. Yours is the advice that the Orwellian hell of the day is preferable to possible greatness, if the slack-jawed academics can just succeed in dragging enough people into their gloomy swamp.

Fall off the planet, Krugman. The litmus test for any policy decision anywhere ought to be: is it increasing individual liberty and opportunity? If the answer is ‘yes’, then go for it, say I.

Where one could argue against Scottish independence is if the leaders are just planning to sell out to Brussels. However, I should think Krugman would be getting out his best pom-poms to cheerlead such a debacle. Is there a stupid idea under the sun that Krugman has not embraced?

via HotAir headlines

Category: New York Times

Comments

47 Responses to “Krugman, Did You Just Argue Against People Exercising Basic Liberty?”

  1. Evi L. Bloggerlady
    September 9th, 2014 @ 9:48 am

    William Wallace Paul Krugman is not.

    http://asterling.typepad.com/.a/6a00d8341ed39853ef014e8c4016e4970d-800wi

  2. Dana
    September 9th, 2014 @ 9:51 am

    Could I vote in Scotland, I’d vote to remain one of Her Majesty’s loyal subjects. However, not being a Scot, I can’t really know how they’d feel about that; were I a Scot, my entire life and my experiences would be different.

    Nevertheless, you make a credible argument: if the esteemed Dr Krugman has recommended something, one should always do the opposite.

  3. Dana
    September 9th, 2014 @ 9:56 am

    Of course, I’d also like to annex all of Canada except Quebec.

  4. Evi L. Bloggerlady
    September 9th, 2014 @ 10:01 am

    If they could leave Ottawa and Quebec with Washington, D.C., I suspect the rest of Canada might welcome joining (or at least BC and Alberta).

  5. Dana
    September 9th, 2014 @ 10:04 am

    As for what The New York Times’ celebrated Nobel laureate argued, why he was arguing that the Scots need to remain fully beholden to the welfare teat, that they needed the United Kingdom as a lifeline of support for the next time they foul up. He was saying, in effect, that because an independent Scotland which still shared the Pound Sterling couldn’t just print itself out of a crisis, a la Zimbabwe, it would be stuck having to take horrible, horrible austerity measures and do something really radical like live within its means.

  6. Quartermaster
    September 9th, 2014 @ 10:49 am

    “Is there a stupid idea under the sun that Krugman has not embraced?”
    This is a rhetorical question, isn’t it?

  7. johncunningham
    September 9th, 2014 @ 11:03 am

    of course the Party stooge Krugman is arguing against the common people exercising basic liberties. to scum like Krugman, the plebs have no liberty. they are serfs to be ruled by commie Ph.Ds and community organizers like Krugman and his commie pals.

  8. The Osprey
    September 9th, 2014 @ 11:12 am

    My Albertan friend tells me BC is just like Oregon and Washington. Libs on the coast, conservatives in the interior.

  9. Evi L. Bloggerlady
    September 9th, 2014 @ 11:35 am

    Any surprise? Alberta’s wealth is also more oil rather than cattle and wheat.

  10. Evi L. Bloggerlady
    September 9th, 2014 @ 11:36 am

    As he said, stroking his pussy.

  11. CrustyB
    September 9th, 2014 @ 11:40 am

    “Give Ireland back to the Irish.” -Paul McCartney

    Ireland, Scotland, they’re like the same, right?

  12. M. Thompson
    September 9th, 2014 @ 11:48 am

    There are two opinions in England about the Scots vote: Good Riddance they want to leave, and They shouldn’t break up the United Kingdom.

    And the SNP is a bunch of lefties anyhow.

  13. Evi L. Bloggerlady
    September 9th, 2014 @ 11:51 am

  14. McGehee
    September 9th, 2014 @ 12:21 pm

    Actually I suspect Krugman fears that without Scotland the rest of the UK will finally be able to drop-kick socialism; Labour has withdrawn increasingly north over the years, while the rUK has been drifting Thatcherward.

  15. havloq
    September 9th, 2014 @ 12:24 pm

    The problem appears to be, Smitty, not that the Scots will incorporate Krugtron 2000’s advice. It’s the fact that they want independence to become a full-operational Socialist DethStore.

    I’m a bit lost with my fellow conservatives on this point; some seem to think that Scotland is going to become a small-governance utopia.

    It’s not. It will become Greece of the North.

  16. Bob Belvedere
    September 9th, 2014 @ 1:35 pm

    So, I say to the English: Let ’em go. It may be England’s only chance left to save itself.

  17. reliapundit
    September 9th, 2014 @ 1:37 pm

    as long as scotland is n the EU they will NIT be “independent”. and the euro is NOT as good as the pound. what scots need is more devolution, not “Independence”.

  18. richard mcenroe
    September 9th, 2014 @ 2:08 pm

    Rob Roy and William Wallace are long dead. If the UK sheds itself of half an island full of Scots Labour dole proles, the remainder of the country will skew sharply right…

  19. richard mcenroe
    September 9th, 2014 @ 2:10 pm

    Sadly, these days, yes. Once again Ireland’s biggest export is its unemployables. The Irish President has demanded Obama amnesty over 50,000 Irish illegals and Paul Ryan supports it.

  20. richard mcenroe
    September 9th, 2014 @ 2:11 pm

    Which same will be at that point the Scots’ problem.

  21. Evi L. Bloggerlady
    September 9th, 2014 @ 2:22 pm

    With far worse food and wine.

    Although it does have scotch!

  22. Dana
    September 9th, 2014 @ 2:36 pm

    Redheaded, green eyed Irish girls?

  23. Steve Skubinna
    September 9th, 2014 @ 2:49 pm

    I favor Scottish independence for two reasons. One, it will throw the Scots fully onto their own resources. They want a cradle to grave welfare state, then they pay for it. Second, it will mean no more Labour governments in the rest of the UK for at least the next two decades.

  24. Steve Skubinna
    September 9th, 2014 @ 2:53 pm

    Except that the Scots will probably (unless they’re far stupider than the historical record suggests) keep the pound. As stupid as the Euro was in conception, it would be idiocy of Krugmanesque proportions to adopt it now.

  25. Quartermaster
    September 9th, 2014 @ 3:43 pm

    They’ll need plenty of the water of life to endure the idiocy they will impose on themselves. If the vote is yes, then in the not too distant future an exodus will begin.

  26. Quartermaster
    September 9th, 2014 @ 3:44 pm

    Have you told your bride of this opinion? [translation: “Are you suicidal?”] 🙂

  27. pa
    September 9th, 2014 @ 4:08 pm

    Ireland claims to have invented whiskey, but Scotland now
    manufactures more of it. Perhaps the old joke “God invented whiskey so the Irish wouldn’t rule the world” can now be applied to Scotland and its future as an independent state.

  28. DeadMessenger
    September 9th, 2014 @ 5:15 pm

    My clan chief told me they’re not the same, and to stap yer havering.

  29. Evi L. Bloggerlady
    September 9th, 2014 @ 5:47 pm

    It will be the lefty progressives who are first to go, the self reliant Scots all left about 300 years or so ago to Stacy’s neck of the woods.

  30. The Daley Gator | Is Paul Krugman Crazy, or just a Communist
    September 9th, 2014 @ 7:04 pm

    […] Well, I think either option would be a safe bet, but there is little doubt that Krugman simply loathes individual liberty […]

  31. Wombat_socho
    September 9th, 2014 @ 8:17 pm

    The question is whether it’ll give the Tories or the UKIP a bigger shot in the arm.

  32. Wombat_socho
    September 9th, 2014 @ 8:18 pm

    Clearly.

  33. Dana
    September 9th, 2014 @ 8:20 pm

    What makes you think that my darling bride (of 35 years, three months and 20 days) isn’t a green-eyed redhead herself?

    OK, OK, she’s brunette, with hazel eyes.

  34. Dana
    September 9th, 2014 @ 8:22 pm

    But, if you like whiskey, only a true Kentucky bourbon is worth your while.

  35. McGehee
    September 9th, 2014 @ 8:23 pm

    Given that the Tory leadership seems to have drifted Labourward much like their Republican counterparts over here, I’m sympathetic to UKIP.

  36. Sam L.
    September 9th, 2014 @ 8:27 pm

    I trust a Very Strong Letter follows.

  37. M. Thompson
    September 9th, 2014 @ 8:53 pm

    There are perks to being single right now. But a citizenship marriage would kill my career…

  38. WarEagle82
    September 9th, 2014 @ 9:56 pm

    Isn’t it the DUTY of our moral and intellectual superiors to enlighten us? Isn’t Krugman OBLIGATED to be Krugman?

    Don’t we all feel just a little bit more secure knowing he is out there thinking on our behalf?

    I rest easier during these long autumn nights just knowing The Krugman is watching over us…

  39. WarEagle82
    September 9th, 2014 @ 9:59 pm

    How much Scotch would you need to choke down 454 grams of Haggis? And how much does 454 grams costs in €uros?

  40. Roy_Lofquist
    September 10th, 2014 @ 4:13 am

    “While one who sings with his tongue on fire
    Gargles in the rat race choir
    Bent out of shape from society’s pliers
    Cares not to come up any higher
    But rather get you down in the hole
    That he’s in”

    Bob Dylan

  41. Paul H. Lemmen
    September 10th, 2014 @ 7:21 am

    My beautiful Barbara was a ginger with hazel eyes … age injects silver amongst the red and dims the brightness of her eyes but my hearts memory of her is always of intense, vibrant hair and flashing eyes. The heart remembers and holds dear the past perfection.

  42. Paul H. Lemmen
    September 10th, 2014 @ 7:22 am

    Possibly a replay of the “Flight of Earls” the Irish experienced…

  43. Dana
    September 10th, 2014 @ 9:03 am

    Remember a great truth of life: real redheads come in only two types, absolutely gorgeous or butt-ugly. There is no middle ground in this.

  44. ‘Bama Poll Hits New Low | Regular Right Guy
    September 10th, 2014 @ 10:42 am

    […] Krugman, Did You Just Argue Against People Exercising Basic Liberty? […]

  45. Steve Skubinna
    September 10th, 2014 @ 2:24 pm

    That joke begs the question of why God created the Irish in the first place.

    Anyway, I far prefer single malt Scotch to Bushmill’s or Jameson’s, tasty as the latter two are. And they do mix better than any single malt.

  46. Steve Skubinna
    September 10th, 2014 @ 2:26 pm

    Not going to argue with that either. I’d rank a good Bourbon over single malt Scotch.

  47. Steve Skubinna
    September 10th, 2014 @ 2:28 pm

    “People sleep peaceably in their beds at night only because Paul Krugman stands ready to do thinking on their behalf.”

    George Orwell.

  48. mike f.
    September 10th, 2014 @ 3:19 pm

    Ah, but Noam Chomsky is in favor of Scottish independence. So much for choosing the side opposite of the asshat. http://www.scotsman.com/news/politics/top-stories/scottish-independence-noam-chomsky-backing-yes-1-3387174