Paul Krugman’s all wrapped up around an ad from the Obama campaign:
I did not say that the Clinton proposal would increase oil industry profits. If the ad implies that I did, it should be retracted.
I beg to differ.
The ad in question (you can see it here) references the NYTimes on April 28 — and although the very sensitive economist isn’t mentioned in the ad, Krugman did indeed run a piece about the gas tax proposal on that date. However, he was slamming McCain that time, not Hillary.
It seems to have been the next day — April 29th — that Krugman slipped up and criticised his favored horse in the race (my emphasis):
Is the supply of gasoline really fixed? For this coming summer, it is. Refineries normally run flat out in the summer, the season of peak driving. Any elasticity in the supply comes earlier in the year, when refiners decide how much to put in inventories. The McCain/Clinton gas tax proposal comes too late for that. So it’s Econ 101: the tax cut really goes to the oil companies.
So… it seems the Obama campaign has committed a gross error.
Not.