Pulling Back The Curtain On Paul Krugman
"To fight this recession the Fed needs more than a snapback; it needs soaring household spending to offset moribund business investment. And to do that, as Paul McCulley of Pimco put it, Alan Greenspan needs to create a housing bubble to replace the Nasdaq bubble."
I think of Paul Krugman as the great Naked Emperor of the economics profession, and when I listen to the good professor as I did today to his Robbins Lectures, I can't avoid picturing the man naked and alone stammer out the words I'm hearing in his nervous "crazy man" voice. Count yourself lucky if you don't also have this reaction.
ht Mish
Comments (16)
silvermine
And, apparently, Greenspan now works for PIMCO. Coincidence?
Published: June 16, 2009 4:03 PM
Mark
So Krugman is advocating bigger, faster bubbles? Does he give us insight into what happens down the line?
Published: June 16, 2009 4:35 PM
bob
To hell with a permanent plateau. Permanent bubble!!!!
Published: June 16, 2009 4:55 PM
Jonathan Finegold Catalán
Bob,
Keynes suggests just that.
Keynes (1964), p. 322.
Published: June 16, 2009 5:12 PM
Bruce Koerber
Economic Numbskulls
Tuesday, June 16, 2009
Krugman And Bernanke Are Strange Fellows.
The Nobel Laureate for Wackonomics is invited to speak and he write columns but his disgrace just continues to accumulate. He and Bernanke are similarly odd in the way they can lie and weave into their lies their perverted version of Keynesianism and then either listen to their own voices or read their own writings and get pleasure from it.
So narrow is their view that to them all the world is nothing compared to themselves. These two are very good examples of the psychological condition of ego-driven interventionism and ego-driven interpretation that has gone so far into that satanic world that extreme narcissism is all that remains. Theirs is a psychotic state, an extreme depravity, and near to the most vulgar of all conditions for a human being, that is: ego-consumed.
Published: June 16, 2009 5:49 PM
gilad
Well, I watched a couple of minutes from the first video. Krugman was his usual aggregate Keynesian guy, while acknowledging a "structure of interest rates" (whatever that concept might mean to him) he (as usual) fails to acknowledge any other structure in the economy. Very depressing.
Published: June 16, 2009 6:40 PM
Ron
It always amazes me when otherwise intelligent (presumably) people suggest such stupidity. As if the cure for buildings that collapse because they're too tall is to keep building them even taller.
Published: June 16, 2009 8:28 PM
Derek
When I watch this guy all I can think of is my Lit studies and reading Narcissus lol.
Too bad that can't happen in real life.....
Published: June 17, 2009 12:32 AM
roy
Krugman's not the Emperor... far from it, he's the phoney taylor... he's in on the scam and plans to be far away with his ill gotten gains by the time the emperor parades his new clothes in public...
Published: June 17, 2009 3:27 AM
Serg
h/t mish? Rockwell posted this two days ago.
Published: June 17, 2009 4:33 AM
Artisan
@ Koeber:
narcissism, yes, not to be confused with egoism, which they fight across all company boards.
These people try to excel in that stupid discipline to "please everybody", while real capitalists stay true to their own vision of the world, delivering a product that society may buy or may not...
I found Rand's "Figurehead" in so far convincing:
all the bullshit economic theories that these state servants deliver doesn't impose any specific kind of individual action ... whatever they do they're always right! They just keep floating along the mainstream and wait to see what will happen next.
Published: June 17, 2009 7:56 AM
Bellboy
I can't believe I'm going to defend him, but that soundbyte is taken out of the context of the article when reproduced on its own.
If you read the whole article, Krugman is merely presenting an argument, not making one.
Published: June 17, 2009 9:36 AM
MatthewWilliam
PK responds: http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/06/17/and-i-was-on-the-grassy-knoll-too/
Published: June 17, 2009 10:47 AM
Jonathan Finegold Catalán
He has a good way of taking comments out of context, not linking to what he's replying to and then calling his readers stupid.
Published: June 17, 2009 10:59 AM
N. Joseph Potts
Krugman is Great Naked Emperor! I LOVE that - it really has legs.
And I heard it first here, from Greg Ransom. The originator?
Published: June 17, 2009 5:35 PM
Ari Timonen
Thanks for the quote. It is great that you keep posting stuff refuting his crazy plans and quote anything to dimnish any credibility.
Since our Finnish national (socialized) tv channel (YLE) made a document about the financial crisis interviewing - you wouldn't guess - Paul Krugman, this is some golden stuff.
Published: June 18, 2009 5:29 PM