Paul Krugman: Conservatives need to stop shouting “Benghazi!” and listen to what Hillary Clinton....

[DonViejo]

Paul Krugman: Conservatives need to stop shouting “Benghazi!” and listen to what Hillary Clinton has to say

Yes, her economic policies differs from husband's -- but that's because she's aware of new evidence

SCOTT ERIC KAUFMAN

Paul Krugman defended Hillary Clinton from Republican cries of hypocrisy after the economic policy she introduced this week contained some major shifts from positions her husband staked nearly twenty years ago.

The reason for those changes? Democrats are aware of new evidence and are adapting policy to suit it. “It’s an interesting experience,” Krugman wrote. “Conservatives should try it some time.”

The “new evidence” of which he speaks is research by David Card and Alan Krueger that demonstrated that experimenting with the minimum wage rate essentially amounts to a natural experiment on the labor market. Card and Krueger studied the effect of the minimum wage hike in New Jersey on the industry most likely to be changed by it — fast food — and found that it actually had a positive effect on unemployment.

How can this be? There are several answers, but the most important is probably that the market for labor isn’t like the market for, say, wheat, because workers are people. And because they’re people, there are important benefits, even to the employer, from paying them more: better morale, lower turnover, increased productivity. These benefits largely offset the direct effect of higher labor costs, so that raising the minimum wage needn’t cost jobs after all.

The direct takeaway from this intellectual revolution is, of course, that we should raise minimum wages. But there are broader implications, too: Once you take what we’ve learned from minimum-wage studies seriously, you realize that they’re not relevant just to the lowest-paid workers.

more
http://www.salon.com/2015/07/17/paul_krugman_conservatives_need_to_stop_shouting_benghazi_and_listen_to_what_hillary_clinton_has_to_say/

[SummerSnow]

1. “Benghazi!”.......

[OKNancy]

2. Full article at the NYTimes

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/07/17/opinion/paul-krugman-liberals-and-wages.html?_r=0

Last paragraph:
So there was a lot more behind Hillary’s speech than I suspect most commentators realized. And for those trying to play gotcha by pointing out that some of what she said differed from ideas that prevailed when her husband was president, well, many liberals have changed their views in response to new evidence. It’s an interesting experience; conservatives should try it some time.

[London Lover Man]

3. It's called finger to the wind....

and "evolving"....

No matter how you redefine it or prettify it, it still is evolving and "finger in the wind" to be sure she is in a "safe position".

Bernie is consistent on what he says, and have been for a very long time.

[Snotcicles]

4. I came up with a one liner for Bernie Sanders.

Rhetoric has a shelf life. Convictions don't spoil.

[Doctor_J]

10. Good one, Snoticles. If another book comes out between now and the election, HRC will probably

"evolve" again.

[stevenleser]

7. Thanks but I'll go with the opinion of the Nobel Prize Laureate and Ivy League Economics professor

Of course, that's just me.

[NCTraveler]

8. Highly intellectual smackdown of a Nobel Prize Laureate. nt.

[Snotcicles]

13. Stiglitz advized Hillary as he did Sanders in 2011. She took his advice and evolved.

http://www.sanders.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/top-economists-to-advise-sanders-on-fed-reform

[OKNancy]

12. foolish consistency

“A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds, adored by little statesmen and philosophers and divines..."

[DanTex]

6. "It’s an interesting experience; conservatives should try it some time."

Krugman nails it as usual.

[DanTex]

5. Uh oh. Let the trashing of Krugman by "progressives" begin.

[quickesst]

9. Oh....

... They will, yes, they will. Only kinda like this...

[Doctor_J]

11. The professor has shown his flexibility in matters of principle in the past

When Heritage Care was proposed by Gingrinch and then later by Rmoney, he was against it. When Obama passed it, he was for it. He even wrote that Republicans should be for it since it's exactly what Rmoney imposed on MA. Unfortunately he lets his fondness for Turd Way dems get in the way of his principles. So while it's true that Republicans are complaining about Clinton's (current) economic views just because she's who she is, it's also true that she will side with wall streeters over main streeters once in office.

[Cha]

14. THank you, Paul Krugman! mahalo Don

[Lil Missy]

15. Why should Bill Clinton's economic policies have any bearing on Hillary's?

She didn't change her point of view - she simply has a different view.