CNBC Host Labels NYTimes Columnist Paul Krugman a 'Communist

New York Times columnist Paul "the U.S. isn't broke" Krugman has become something of a gag over at CNBC's "Squawk Box." In addition to being a called a "unicorn" with "confounding" and "laughable" ideas, he’s now apparently a "communist."

Joe Kernen during aMonday broadcast of CNBC's "Squawk Box" defended CNN’s Erin Burnett from a Huffington Post article debunking her claim that commodity prices have risen as a result of the Fed's "quantitative easing" policies.

In rebutting Burnett, the HuffPo article cited both Baker and Paul "the Tea Party shot Gabby Giffords" Krugman. The famously outspoken Kernen wasn’t having any of it.

"They quoted Paul Krugman and this other idiot, Dean Baker, who’s some guy, I don’t even know who he is, he always writes for The Huffington Post. Basically co-communists in a lot of different economic circles,” said Kernen.

He went on to criticize bloggers who fact-check economic issues.

"You know, fact-checkers need fact-checking now. They’re so full of crap. These fact-checkers lie more than the people that they’re fact-checking," he said, adding that, "In the blogosphere, you can write what is libelous, you can lie and it’s taken as fact by the readers."

CNBC’s Steve Liesman concurred: “I get concerned when people who are not economics reporters, they get involved. Like when the White House guys start writing about economics, it makes me nervous.”

Watch Kernen go after Krugman:

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(H/T: Mediaite). Front page photo courtesy the AP.