The Debate on the American Economy -"Stopwatch"

Today’s post features a new ad from Crossroads GPS, a nonprofit organization associated with conservative super PAC American Crossroads. The ad, which was released yesterday, will run in key election states, including Colorado, Pennsylvania, Ohio, New Hampshire, North Carolina, Michigan, Iowa, Nevada, and Virginia.

The message of the ad is that our weak economy is a direct result of President Obama’s profligate spending. The way to strengthen the economy, according to Crossroads, is to “stop the spending.” A recent opinion piece from Paul Krugman questions the validity of this argument on two levels. First, it notes that spending under Obama has not increased dramatically. Second, it argues that spending has not increased enough to counter the recession.