If Mitt Romney is elected president, the U.S. will experience an economic disaster the likes of which have been recently seen in Ireland, according to Paul Krugman.
"Ireland is Romney economics in practice," the Nobel-Prize winning economist and New York Times columnist said on the Colbert Report on Monday. "I think Ireland is America's future if Romney is president." (h/t Politico.)
"They've laid off a large fraction of their public workforce, they've slashed spending, they've had extreme austerity programs, they haven't really raised taxes on corporations or the rich at all, they have 14 percent unemployment, 30 percent youth unemployment, zero economic growth," Krugman said.
Romney, the likely Republican nominee for president, recently suggested that the government should lay off more firemen, policemen, and teachers, according to CNN. Romney's campaign website says that if elected president, Romney would aim to slash federal spending at least 18 percent by the end of his first term.
Conservatives like Romney loved Ireland's economic program before the country fell into a depression, in part because it had "the lowest corporate tax rates," Krugman said on the Colbert Report. Ireland fell into recession again at the end of last year.
After Krugman finished his criticism of Romney's economic plan, there was a pause as Colbert tried to think of a good retort. "Well the Irish can handle it, OK? The Irish do very well in bleak, depressing times," Colbert said. "They've got those jigs and everything that they do."
Check out some more Krugman lines here: