On Nov. 13, The Day published two letters bemoaning the re-election of President Obama, "America turning into socialist state," and "Glorifying need and punishing productivity."

The writers used the usual right-wing pejoratives such as "free entitlements" that "glorify need and punish productivity," "entitled masses" and "European-style socialist state" to describe what they see as the impending doom of American society as we know it.

Juxtaposed with these missives was a column by Princeton professor of economics Paul Krugman, who is MIT- and Yale-trained as well as a Nobel Laureate in economic theory.

Krugman sharply criticizes the hypocrisy and fallacious economic reasoning of the Republican deficit hawks, while pointing out that jobs are the most important issue we face today.

Which is correct?

While there are no absolutes in economics, in this case I think I'll go with the Nobel Laureate.