Krugman: Jindal ‘has no idea whatsoever’ about what the ‘fiscal cliff’ is

It didn’t take long for Gov. Bobby Jindal to receive some feedback on an opinion piece he penned for Politico on Thursday about the looming “fiscal cliff”—which Jindal says has nothing on the “fiscal Armageddon” that’s facing the nation as a result of its $16.3 trillion debt. While many left-leaning talking heads immediately began taking shots at some of the logic and recommendations Jindal laid out in the column, none appear to be as unimpressed as economist and New York Times columnist Paul Krugman. In his column today, Krugman says Jindal “has no idea whatsoever” about what the “fiscal cliff” really is. “There’s nothing in that piece even hinting that the looming problem is spending cuts and tax increases that will shrink the deficit too soon; and his big policy ideas would actually make the lurch to austerity worse,” Krugman writes. “You really have to wonder how someone who’s a major political figure could be this uninformed—but you have to wonder even more about the state of mind that induces you to write an op-ed about a subject you don’t comprehend at all.” You can read Krugman’s full column here.