Paul Krugman: For the love of carbon
It should come as no surprise that among the first moves of the new GOP Senate is an attempt to push President Barack Obama into approving the Keystone XL pipeline, which would carry oil from Canadian tar sands. After all, debts must be paid, and the oil and gas industry — which gave 87 percent of its 2014 campaign contributions to the Republican Party — expects to be rewarded for its support.
But why is this environmentally troubling project an urgent priority in a time of plunging oil prices? Well, the party line, from people like Mitch McConnell, the new Senate majority leader, is that it’s all about jobs. And it’s true: Building Keystone XL could slightly increase U.S. employment — slightly as in replacing only about 5 percent of the jobs America lost because of destructive cuts in federal spending that resulted from the Republican blackmail over the debt ceiling.
Don’t tell me that the cases are completely different. You can’t claim that pipeline spending creates jobs while government spending doesn’t.
For more than seven years — ever since the Bush-era housing and debt bubbles burst — the U.S. economy has suffered from inadequate demand. Total spending hasn’t been enough to fully employ the nation’s resources.
http://www.post-gazette.com/opinion/2015/01/24/Paul-Krugman/stories/201501240016