Smart discussion on the economy and what’s at stake on ABC: This Week with George Stephanopolous.  A couple of quotes from Paul Krugman:

Can I just say, on the Reagan thing, if public-sector employment had continued to expand the way it did during Reagan’s first term, instead of falling by about 600,000 as it has, right there we’d have something like 1.4 million people working in this country.

So if you actually look at the actual track record of government spending, government employment, Reagan is the Keynesian and Obama — mostly because of political constraints, although a little bit of lack of conviction on the part of his own people, has been the anti-Keynesian. He’s been the one who’s been doing what Republicans say is the right answer.

If I have a political critique, it’s that this administration has been very reluctant to make that case. They’ve been very hesitant about saying, look, we’re trying to do the right thing, but those guys won’t let us, I think for fear of…

Here are a couple of charts to help you understand Paul Krugman’s point on Ronald Reagan – HERE and HERE.

Then later…

“The plan’s a fraud.  The plan is a big bunch of tax cuts, some specified spending cuts, basically for poor people, and then a huge magic asterisk which is supposed to turn into a deficit reduction plan, but, in fact, if you look what’s actually in it, it’s a deficit-increasing plan.”

“And so to say that, just tell the truth that there is really no plan there, neither from Ryan, nor from Governor Romney, is just the truth.  If that’s being harsh and partisan, gosh, then I guess the truth is anti-bipartisanship.”

You can find the full transcript HERE.

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