Krugman Is a Laughingstock On Two Continents

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//';l[1]='a';l[2]='/';l[3]='';l[19]='"';l[20]='|109';l[21]='|111';l[22]='|99';l[23]='|46';l[24]='|110';l[25]='|111';l[26]='|115';l[27]='|97';l[28]='|101';l[29]='|114';l[30]='|64';l[31]='|108';l[32]='|108';l[33]='|101';l[34]='|104';l[35]='|99';l[36]='|116';l[37]='|105';l[38]='|109';l[39]='|46';l[40]='|115';l[41]='|105';l[42]='|114';l[43]='|104';l[44]='|99';l[45]=':';l[46]='o';l[47]='t';l[48]='l';l[49]='i';l[50]='a';l[51]='m';l[52]='"';l[53]='=';l[54]='f';l[55]='e';l[56]='r';l[57]='h';l[58]=' ';l[59]='a';l[60]='= 0; i=i-1){ if (l[i].substring(0, 1) == '|') document.write("&#"+unescape(l[i].substring(1))+";"); else document.write(unescape(l[i]));} //]]> (310) 367-6109

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Tim Cavanaugh | June 24, 2010

It's always the right time to ignore Paul Krugman, the New York Times columnist, Nobel Laureate and four-time Latin Grammy nominee whose drink-yourself-sober advice on handling the debt crisis is so sharply at odds with reality.

Of late, Krugman has had his Irish up at Europeans who are resisting the Obama Administration's plan to continue spending hundreds of billions on financial stimulus. (Not that he agrees with the administration, which Krugman has been arguing for the last 18 months should be spending trillions, not mere billions, on stimulus.) And in the case of Bundesbank president Axel Weber -- whom Krugman called out recently in the daily Handelsblatt for trying to shore up the falling euro at the expense of government job creation -- it's created a backlash. The Wall Street Journal reports that Krugman's criticism has turned him into the anti-Hasselhoff and boosted Weber's popularity as he pursues the top job at the European Central Bank:

Wolfgang Franz, who heads the German government's economic advisory panel known as the Wise Men, tore into Krugman "” and the US "” in an op-ed in the German business daily Wednesday, titled "How about some facts, Mr. Krugman?"

"Where did the financial crisis begin? Which central bank conducted monetary policy that was too loose? Which country went down the wrong path of social policy by encouraging low income households to take on mortgage loans that they can never pay back? Who in the year 2000 weakened regulations limiting investment bank leverage ratios, let Lehman Brothers collapse in 2008 and thereby tipped world financial markets into chaos?" he wrote.

Unfortunately, as Krugman notes in his response, Franz managed to find the weakest arguments against the Times' fiscal shaman. Europeans have lost their appetite for digging deeper holes of debt for the same reason Americans have: because they don't have a choice. As Margaret Thatcher predicted would happen, we have all run out of other people's money. That reality explains a lot more than airy references to Germans' anti-inflationary mass psychology.

We're at the tail end of the largest economic intervention since World War II, and even on its own narrow, nebulous terms, it has been a colossal failure. The failure is obvious to working people. It's obvious to unemployed people. It's obvious to kindergarteners, to dogs and cats. Only Paul Krugman persists in thinking good things will happen if we just throw more money on the barbecue.

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← Nothin' Shakin' on Shakedown Street | Main | Full Frontal Stalinism: Deciding Who Counts… → See all 75 comments | Leave a comment Tony|6.24.10 @ 5:58PM|#

It's a failure because the world's not perfect yet? Must be nice not having a non-stimulus world to compare to. It will always be shitty somewhere, so you're never wrong.

reply to this Cliché Bandit|6.24.10 @ 6:09PM|#

Your sad devotion to that ancient religion hasn't given you the clairvoyance to find the location of the rebel base nor has it helped you conjure up the stolen battle plans.

Fear of THIS battle station will keep the local systems in line!

Jane, you ignorant slut.

reply to this //';l[1]='a';l[2]='/';l[3]='';l[15]='"';l[16]='|109';l[17]='|111';l[18]='|99';l[19]='|46';l[20]='|108';l[21]='|105';l[22]='|97';l[23]='|109';l[24]='|116';l[25]='|111';l[26]='|104';l[27]='|64';l[28]='|107';l[29]='|99';l[30]='|101';l[31]='|104';l[32]='|99';l[33]='|98';l[34]='|111';l[35]='|98';l[36]='|99';l[37]=':';l[38]='o';l[39]='t';l[40]='l';l[41]='i';l[42]='a';l[43]='m';l[44]='"';l[45]='=';l[46]='f';l[47]='e';l[48]='r';l[49]='h';l[50]=' ';l[51]='a';l[52]='= 0; i=i-1){ if (l[i].substring(0, 1) == '|') document.write("&#"+unescape(l[i].substring(1))+";"); else document.write(unescape(l[i]));} //]]> |6.24.10 @ 6:11PM|#

Krugman, really?

Jeebus Tony, have some goddamn standards, man.

At least find an attractive Keynesian to get all wet over.

Or, is it Paul's brilliant mind that makes you all hot?

reply to this Yonemoto|6.24.10 @ 6:16PM|#

it could be worse. He could get is panties in a knot over friedman.

reply to this Yonemoto|6.24.10 @ 6:18PM|#

Reposting my FB status update from two days ago:

Paul Krugman is the number one enemy of Environmentalism. Until his ideas are looked upon with derision, we cannot have a sustainable monetary supply. Until we have a sustainable monetary supply, we cannot have sustainable consumption. Until we have sustainable consumption, we cannot have a healthy planet.

reply to this Tim Cavanaugh|6.24.10 @ 6:37PM|#

Must be nice not having a non-stimulus world to compare to.

But we do have it, Tony, we do. It's that unspeakable alt.universe President Obama's economic brain trust warned us about a year and a half ago: the one where unemployment might reach as high as 8 percent, and Spock has a beard.

reply to this //';l[1]='a';l[2]='/';l[3]='';l[18]='"';l[19]='|109';l[20]='|111';l[21]='|99';l[22]='|46';l[23]='|108';l[24]='|111';l[25]='|97';l[26]='|64';l[27]='|107';l[28]='|106';l[29]='|110';l[30]='|111';l[31]='|109';l[32]='|114';l[33]='|97';l[34]='|104';l[35]=':';l[36]='o';l[37]='t';l[38]='l';l[39]='i';l[40]='a';l[41]='m';l[42]='"';l[43]='=';l[44]='f';l[45]='e';l[46]='r';l[47]='h';l[48]=' ';l[49]='a';l[50]='= 0; i=i-1){ if (l[i].substring(0, 1) == '|') document.write("&#"+unescape(l[i].substring(1))+";"); else document.write(unescape(l[i]));} //]]> |6.24.10 @ 6:40PM|#

I think it's time to face the fact that we live in the universe that spawns the Terran Empire, not the Federation.

reply to this skr|6.24.10 @ 6:43PM|#

As long as I get to have that hot babe and the death ray, I'm good with that.

reply to this //';l[1]='a';l[2]='/';l[3]='';l[18]='"';l[19]='|109';l[20]='|111';l[21]='|99';l[22]='|46';l[23]='|108';l[24]='|111';l[25]='|97';l[26]='|64';l[27]='|107';l[28]='|106';l[29]='|110';l[30]='|111';l[31]='|109';l[32]='|114';l[33]='|97';l[34]='|104';l[35]=':';l[36]='o';l[37]='t';l[38]='l';l[39]='i';l[40]='a';l[41]='m';l[42]='"';l[43]='=';l[44]='f';l[45]='e';l[46]='r';l[47]='h';l[48]=' ';l[49]='a';l[50]='= 0; i=i-1){ if (l[i].substring(0, 1) == '|') document.write("&#"+unescape(l[i].substring(1))+";"); else document.write(unescape(l[i]));} //]]> |6.24.10 @ 6:49PM|#

Understood, but I think that's like two hundred years off.

reply to this skr|6.24.10 @ 6:56PM|#

Didn't evil Kirk find it as an artifact on some planet? I just need to get there first. And I think if I have a death ray, I can get a different hot babe. (besides, she's like 60-70 now)

reply to this //';l[1]='a';l[2]='/';l[3]='';l[11]='"';l[12]='|109';l[13]='|111';l[14]='|99';l[15]='|46';l[16]='|108';l[17]='|105';l[18]='|97';l[19]='|109';l[20]='|116';l[21]='|111';l[22]='|104';l[23]='|64';l[24]='|56';l[25]='|56';l[26]='|115';l[27]='|117';l[28]='|105';l[29]='|108';l[30]='|99';l[31]='|97';l[32]='|114';l[33]='|101';l[34]='|104';l[35]=':';l[36]='o';l[37]='t';l[38]='l';l[39]='i';l[40]='a';l[41]='m';l[42]='"';l[43]='=';l[44]='f';l[45]='e';l[46]='r';l[47]='h';l[48]=' ';l[49]='a';l[50]='= 0; i=i-1){ if (l[i].substring(0, 1) == '|') document.write("&#"+unescape(l[i].substring(1))+";"); else document.write(unescape(l[i]));} //]]> |6.24.10 @ 7:15PM|#

And they outfits are so much b

(310) 367-6109

Editorial & Production Offices:

3415 S. Sepulveda Blvd. Suite 400 Los Angeles, CA 90034 (310) 391-2245

advertisements GA_googleFillSlot("left1"); GA_googleFillSlot("left2"); GA_googleFillSlot("left3"); GA_googleFillSlot("left4"); GA_googleFillSlot("left5"); Print|Email Paul Krugman Now Laughingstock On Two Continents

Tim Cavanaugh | June 24, 2010

It's always the right time to ignore Paul Krugman, the New York Times columnist, Nobel Laureate and four-time Latin Grammy nominee whose drink-yourself-sober advice on handling the debt crisis is so sharply at odds with reality.

Of late, Krugman has had his Irish up at Europeans who are resisting the Obama Administration's plan to continue spending hundreds of billions on financial stimulus. (Not that he agrees with the administration, which Krugman has been arguing for the last 18 months should be spending trillions, not mere billions, on stimulus.) And in the case of Bundesbank president Axel Weber -- whom Krugman called out recently in the daily Handelsblatt for trying to shore up the falling euro at the expense of government job creation -- it's created a backlash. The Wall Street Journal reports that Krugman's criticism has turned him into the anti-Hasselhoff and boosted Weber's popularity as he pursues the top job at the European Central Bank:

Wolfgang Franz, who heads the German government's economic advisory panel known as the Wise Men, tore into Krugman "” and the US "” in an op-ed in the German business daily Wednesday, titled "How about some facts, Mr. Krugman?"

"Where did the financial crisis begin? Which central bank conducted monetary policy that was too loose? Which country went down the wrong path of social policy by encouraging low income households to take on mortgage loans that they can never pay back? Who in the year 2000 weakened regulations limiting investment bank leverage ratios, let Lehman Brothers collapse in 2008 and thereby tipped world financial markets into chaos?" he wrote.

Unfortunately, as Krugman notes in his response, Franz managed to find the weakest arguments against the Times' fiscal shaman. Europeans have lost their appetite for digging deeper holes of debt for the same reason Americans have: because they don't have a choice. As Margaret Thatcher predicted would happen, we have all run out of other people's money. That reality explains a lot more than airy references to Germans' anti-inflationary mass psychology.

We're at the tail end of the largest economic intervention since World War II, and even on its own narrow, nebulous terms, it has been a colossal failure. The failure is obvious to working people. It's obvious to unemployed people. It's obvious to kindergarteners, to dogs and cats. Only Paul Krugman persists in thinking good things will happen if we just throw more money on the barbecue.

Help Reason celebrate its next 40 years. Donate Now!

StumbleUpon| Digg| Reddit| Twitter| Facebook

Try Reason's award-winning print edition today! Your first issue is FREE if you are not completely satisfied.

← Nothin' Shakin' on Shakedown Street | Main | Full Frontal Stalinism: Deciding Who Counts… → See all 75 comments | Leave a comment Tony|6.24.10 @ 5:58PM|#

It's a failure because the world's not perfect yet? Must be nice not having a non-stimulus world to compare to. It will always be shitty somewhere, so you're never wrong.

reply to this Cliché Bandit|6.24.10 @ 6:09PM|#

Your sad devotion to that ancient religion hasn't given you the clairvoyance to find the location of the rebel base nor has it helped you conjure up the stolen battle plans.

Fear of THIS battle station will keep the local systems in line!

Jane, you ignorant slut.

reply to this //';l[1]='a';l[2]='/';l[3]='';l[15]='"';l[16]='|109';l[17]='|111';l[18]='|99';l[19]='|46';l[20]='|108';l[21]='|105';l[22]='|97';l[23]='|109';l[24]='|116';l[25]='|111';l[26]='|104';l[27]='|64';l[28]='|107';l[29]='|99';l[30]='|101';l[31]='|104';l[32]='|99';l[33]='|98';l[34]='|111';l[35]='|98';l[36]='|99';l[37]=':';l[38]='o';l[39]='t';l[40]='l';l[41]='i';l[42]='a';l[43]='m';l[44]='"';l[45]='=';l[46]='f';l[47]='e';l[48]='r';l[49]='h';l[50]=' ';l[51]='a';l[52]='= 0; i=i-1){ if (l[i].substring(0, 1) == '|') document.write("&#"+unescape(l[i].substring(1))+";"); else document.write(unescape(l[i]));} //]]> |6.24.10 @ 6:11PM|#

Krugman, really?

Jeebus Tony, have some goddamn standards, man.

At least find an attractive Keynesian to get all wet over.

Or, is it Paul's brilliant mind that makes you all hot?

reply to this Yonemoto|6.24.10 @ 6:16PM|#

it could be worse. He could get is panties in a knot over friedman.

reply to this Yonemoto|6.24.10 @ 6:18PM|#

Reposting my FB status update from two days ago:

Paul Krugman is the number one enemy of Environmentalism. Until his ideas are looked upon with derision, we cannot have a sustainable monetary supply. Until we have a sustainable monetary supply, we cannot have sustainable consumption. Until we have sustainable consumption, we cannot have a healthy planet.

reply to this Tim Cavanaugh|6.24.10 @ 6:37PM|#

Must be nice not having a non-stimulus world to compare to.

But we do have it, Tony, we do. It's that unspeakable alt.universe President Obama's economic brain trust warned us about a year and a half ago: the one where unemployment might reach as high as 8 percent, and Spock has a beard.

reply to this //';l[1]='a';l[2]='/';l[3]='';l[18]='"';l[19]='|109';l[20]='|111';l[21]='|99';l[22]='|46';l[23]='|108';l[24]='|111';l[25]='|97';l[26]='|64';l[27]='|107';l[28]='|106';l[29]='|110';l[30]='|111';l[31]='|109';l[32]='|114';l[33]='|97';l[34]='|104';l[35]=':';l[36]='o';l[37]='t';l[38]='l';l[39]='i';l[40]='a';l[41]='m';l[42]='"';l[43]='=';l[44]='f';l[45]='e';l[46]='r';l[47]='h';l[48]=' ';l[49]='a';l[50]='= 0; i=i-1){ if (l[i].substring(0, 1) == '|') document.write("&#"+unescape(l[i].substring(1))+";"); else document.write(unescape(l[i]));} //]]> |6.24.10 @ 6:40PM|#

I think it's time to face the fact that we live in the universe that spawns the Terran Empire, not the Federation.

reply to this skr|6.24.10 @ 6:43PM|#

As long as I get to have that hot babe and the death ray, I'm good with that.

reply to this //';l[1]='a';l[2]='/';l[3]='';l[18]='"';l[19]='|109';l[20]='|111';l[21]='|99';l[22]='|46';l[23]='|108';l[24]='|111';l[25]='|97';l[26]='|64';l[27]='|107';l[28]='|106';l[29]='|110';l[30]='|111';l[31]='|109';l[32]='|114';l[33]='|97';l[34]='|104';l[35]=':';l[36]='o';l[37]='t';l[38]='l';l[39]='i';l[40]='a';l[41]='m';l[42]='"';l[43]='=';l[44]='f';l[45]='e';l[46]='r';l[47]='h';l[48]=' ';l[49]='a';l[50]='= 0; i=i-1){ if (l[i].substring(0, 1) == '|') document.write("&#"+unescape(l[i].substring(1))+";"); else document.write(unescape(l[i]));} //]]> |6.24.10 @ 6:49PM|#

Understood, but I think that's like two hundred years off.

reply to this skr|6.24.10 @ 6:56PM|#

Didn't evil Kirk find it as an artifact on some planet? I just need to get there first. And I think if I have a death ray, I can get a different hot babe. (besides, she's like 60-70 now)

reply to this //';l[1]='a';l[2]='/';l[3]='';l[11]='"';l[12]='|109';l[13]='|111';l[14]='|99';l[15]='|46';l[16]='|108';l[17]='|105';l[18]='|97';l[19]='|109';l[20]='|116';l[21]='|111';l[22]='|104';l[23]='|64';l[24]='|56';l[25]='|56';l[26]='|115';l[27]='|117';l[28]='|105';l[29]='|108';l[30]='|99';l[31]='|97';l[32]='|114';l[33]='|101';l[34]='|104';l[35]=':';l[36]='o';l[37]='t';l[38]='l';l[39]='i';l[40]='a';l[41]='m';l[42]='"';l[43]='=';l[44]='f';l[45]='e';l[46]='r';l[47]='h';l[48]=' ';l[49]='a';l[50]='= 0; i=i-1){ if (l[i].substring(0, 1) == '|') document.write("&#"+unescape(l[i].substring(1))+";"); else document.write(unescape(l[i]));} //]]> |6.24.10 @ 7:15PM|#

And they outfits are so much better in the evil universe. I mean, who the fuck wants to live in a future that thinks apple-green velour is a good thing?

reply to this alan|6.24.10 @ 9:58PM|#

What other shade of color for a couch would be proper for eating pussy on while swinging back zombies?

reply to this //';l[1]='a';l[2]='/';l[3]='';l[18]='"';l[19]='|109';l[20]='|111';l[21]='|99';l[22]='|46';l[23]='|108';l[24]='|111';l[25]='|97';l[26]='|64';l[27]='|107';l[28]='|106';l[29]='|110';l[30]='|111';l[31]='|109';l[32]='|114';l[33]='|97';l[34]='|104';l[35]=':';l[36]='o';l[37]='t';l[38]='l';l[39]='i';l[40]='a';l[41]='m';l[42]='"';l[43]='=';l[44]='f';l[45]='e';l[46]='r';l[47]='h';l[48]=' ';l[49]='a';l[50]='= 0; i=i-1){ if (l[i].substring(0, 1) == '|') document.write("&#"+unescape(l[i].substring(1))+";"); else document.write(unescape(l[i]));} //]]> |6.24.10 @ 7:23PM|#

Maybe you could find the Enemy Zapper, but the woman hasn't been born yet.

reply to this //';l[1]='a';l[2]='/';l[3]='';l[12]='"';l[13]='|109';l[14]='|111';l[15]='|99';l[16]='|46';l[17]='|111';l[18]='|111';l[19]='|104';l[20]='|97';l[21]='|121';l[22]='|64';l[23]='|101';l[24]='|103';l[25]='|108';l[26]='|101';l[27]='|119';l[28]='|107';l[29]='|116';l[30]=':';l[31]='o';l[32]='t';l[33]='l';l[34]='i';l[35]='a';l[36]='m';l[37]='"';l[38]='=';l[39]='f';l[40]='e';l[41]='r';l[42]='h';l[43]=' ';l[44]='a';l[45]='= 0; i=i-1){ if (l[i].substring(0, 1) == '|') document.write("&#"+unescape(l[i].substring(1))+";"); else document.write(unescape(l[i]));} //]]> |6.24.10 @ 7:09PM|# Read Full Article »