Brad DeLong

NPR Promotes Obit For Conservative Kansas: It Died 'After a Long and Difficult Battle with Extremism'
By Tim Graham | April 29, 2013 | 11:37 PM EDT

In today’s installment of NPR Hates Conservatives, we offer a story from Saturday’s All Things Considered. Conservatism is killing Kansas under Gov. Sam Brownback, apparently. Anchor Jacki Lyden reported: “One political writer says it's time to write the state's obituary, and he did.”

Jason Probst read the first line of his screed out loud on national radio: “The great state of Kansas passed away on March 31, 2013 after a long and difficult battle with extremism.” Lyden added: “And that's our cover story today: Red or Dead? The new Kansas experiment.” With the exception of a few thoughts from Gov. Brownback, Lyden focused in on the leftists and their complaints that progressivism is being cast aside:  

Stacked Deck: Soros Adds More Lefty Supporters to Event Aiming to Remake Economy
By Dan Gainor | March 29, 2011 | 9:15 AM EDT

Left-wing funder extraordinaire George Soros isn’t content with just promoting his long list of liberal causes. He wants to remake the global economy. This plan, first revealed by the Media Research Center last week, continues to get more obvious.

Soros has spent $50 million getting the group INET (Institute for New Economic Thinking) to throw a remake of the famous Bretton Woods conference held near the end of World War II. This conference begins April 8 and Soros’s goal is to “establish new international rules” and “reform the currency system.” It’s all according to a plan laid out in a Nov. 4, 2009, Soros op-ed calling for “a grand bargain that rearranges the entire financial order.”

Of course it’s gotten little press, despite having eight separate journalists on the list of 90 speakers. That list includes six from The Financial Times, which hasn’t mentioned INET since November.

Though the Soros-funded INET keeps adding new speakers, more than two-thirds of those are still connected directly to George Soros. Some of the newer additions are also blatantly liberal, in case there was any doubt about the nature of the event.

Angry Keynesian: Krugman Threatens to 'Punch' Detractors 'In the Kisser'
By Jeff Poor | July 2, 2010 | 2:07 PM EDT

Paul Krugman is known for throwing a bomb or two from his platform in the New York Times, but it's really tough to take him for a violent fellow.

In his July 2 blog post, "I'm Gonna Haul Out The Next Guy Who Calls Me ‘Crude' And Punch Him In the Kisser," Krugman lamented criticism of his support for more stimulus spending. A July 1 editorial in The Economist noted that the economy needs more private spending, not more government spending.

"Mr Krugman's crude Keynesianism underplays the link between firms' and households' behaviour and their expectations of future tax and spending policy," the editorial said. "For example, firms across the rich world are hoarding cash. Their reluctance to invest may have more to do with regulatory, financial and fiscal uncertainty than weak consumer demand (see article). If governments address those worries, businesspeople may start spending."