Yes indeed, rarely have I done three posts on the economy in just a couple of hours, but I just now read this from Paul Krugman on the idea that somehow Obama is anti-business and that it’s his fault the economy is hurting:

All the buzz lately is that the Obama administration is “antibusiness.” And there are widespread claims that fears about taxes, regulation and budget deficits are holding down business spending and blocking economic recovery.

How much truth is there to these claims? None.

…[W]hy are we hearing so much about the alleged harm being inflicted by an antibusiness climate? For the most part it’s the same old, same old: lobbyists trying to bully Washington into cutting taxes and dismantling regulations, while extracting bigger fees from their clients along the way.

Beyond that, business leaders are, as I said, feeling unloved: the financial crisis, health insurance scandals, and the catastrophe in the Gulf of Mexico have taken a toll on their reputation. Somehow, however, rather than blaming their peers for bad behavior, C.E.O.’s blame Mr. Obama for “demonizing” business — by which they apparently mean speaking frankly about the culpability of the guilty parties.

Don’t read the rest of this post without reading the rest of the article. I’m serious. It speaks directly to what I’ve been speaking about which is that the public’s gaze is being intentionally misdirected from those who are actually to blame because the corporations know there is no defense for their bad behavior.

You may object that indeed this is not the reason conservatives argue for tax reductions on business as a method of economic stimulus. That President Obama is still to be blamed for his liberal policies of “tax and spend” which only hurts the economy as they take money from those who earn it and give it to those who don’t. But to jump above the intricacies of all arguments for a moment, it’s really simple: Republicans want to hurt Obama in any way possible. Therefore they simply cannot agree that economic stimulus works. They have to have a different line, and given that half their platform is to be pro-business, this is what you get. 

Not sure I can make any point here that’s better than what Krugman himself says: “Well, C.E.O.’s are people, too — but soothing their hurt feelings isn’t a priority right now, and it has nothing at all to do with promoting economic recovery.”