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Monday, September 19, 2016

Krugman's hit-piece on Johnson full of errors

Almost Everything Paul Krugman Says in This Awful Column About Gary Johnson Is Wrong - Hit & Run : Reason.com -  Robby Soave:

September 19, 2016 - "Paul Krugman ... a one-dimensional partisan operative still somehow masquerading as the in-house economist for The New York Times' op-ed pages — excoriates young voters as not merely reckless, but actively dangerous, given their penchant for supporting third-party candidates Jill Stein and Gary Johnson. Especially Gary Johnson.

"Krugman rejects the idea that these voters could possibly like Johnson because they agree with his views, or consider him the most honest and forthright option. According to Krugman, ... if their goal is register a protest vote again Clinton, they are acting immaturely by helping to elect Donald Trump....

"Unsurprisingly, Krugman's column makes some unfair and likely incorrect logical leaps. He begins by asserting that Johnson and Stein's high favorability among young people hurts Clinton. But, as Bleeding Heart Libertarians blogger Jacob T. Levy explains, Johnson's overall base is pulling slightly more voters from the Trump camp than the Clinton camp....

"Krugman ... just doesn't understand how they could possibly support the nominee of the Libertarian Party — the party that wants to 'eliminate environmental regulation, abolish the income tax, do away with public schools, and dismantle Social Security and Medicare.' Of course, those are generic libertarian policy positions, not Johnson's positions. For example, Johnson doesn't want to 'dismantle' Social Security and Medicare — he told CBS News explicitly that he wants to reform these programs, rather than eliminate them.

"Krugman has mischaracterized Johnson's views on a host of issues. But the issues Krugman ignores are even more telling. The average millennial isn't just going to vote for the candidate offering the most robust welfare state. They care about things like reforming drug laws and staying out of pointless wars, too. And on these issues, even Krugman would likely have to admit that Johnson is clearly more palatable. That's why he omits these issues....

"Lastly, Krugman demonstrates impressively un-economic thinking when he asserts ...  that each voter must treat his or her vote as if it's the deciding one. In reality, an individual voter has effectively zero chance of influencing the outcome of a national election, so everybody might as well vote for the candidate they like best, if they vote at all. For an impressive number of millennials — who do not feel bound to obey the two-party duopoly that produces horribly flawed candidates year after year — that person is Johnson."

Read more: http://reason.com/blog/2016/09/19/almost-everything-paul-krugman-says-in-t
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