More Oil Hackery from Krugman
By Rizzuto

Fri Aug 08, 2008 - Krugman has descended into a depth of hackery most of us dare not even dream of. His columns no longer consist of anything of substance, rather he is resorting, quite literally in this instance, to simply calling Republicans stupid. Just for the hell of it, let’s take a look at some of what you said in today’s New York Times piece:
And the debate on energy policy has helped me find the words for something I’ve been thinking about for a while. Republicans, once hailed as the “party of ideas,” have become the party of stupid.
Super duper point Mr. Krugman, nothing says credibility like name calling. Since your party has exactly no ideas when it comes to energy policy what does that make them? The party of double secret stupid?

He continues:
In the case of oil, this takes the form of pretending that more drilling would produce fast relief at the gas pump. In fact, earlier this week Republicans in Congress actually claimed credit for the recent fall in oil prices: “The market is responding to the fact that we are here talking,” said Representative John Shadegg.

What about the experts at the Department of Energy who say that it would take years before offshore drilling would yield any oil at all, and that even then the effect on prices at the pump would be “insignificant”? Presumably they’re just a bunch of wimps, probably Democrats. And the Democrats, as Representative Michele Bachmann assures us, “want Americans to move to the urban core, live in tenements, take light rail to their government jobs.”
Are prices the only thing you’re concerned about Paulie? A combination of offshore, on-shore drilling, and an exploitation of shale oil, and we could have a deep effect on America’s dependence on foreign oil. A 2004 report from the US Department of Energy states that oil from ANWR alone could possibly reduce American dependence on foreign oil imports by 4%. While it would have a only a small effect on prices, it would certainly take us toward the energy independence.

In addition, the projections that Krugman quotes from the DOE do not take into account any sort of increase in alternative energies which Republicans also support. If you look at the Pickens Plan, it includes the increased use of Wind and Natural gas, helping to ween us off of fossil fuels and decrease the very demand which is driving the prices of oil up.

But once again, drilling was never considered or meant to be a solve-all as Krugman would have you believe. It’s a complete misrepresentation of our position. His complaint that the effects of more domestic oil on the market are too far away completely undercut he and his party’s claim to be searching for “long term” solutions. Should we stop planting trees because they may take 10 years to produce shade?

But what do I know…I’m stupid.





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