Krugman Defends Himself

Jan 4th, 2012

Paul Krugman responds to some criticism of his 'partisanship':

"Look, economic policy matters. It matters for real people who suffer real consequences when we get it wrong. If I believe that the doctrine of expansionary austerity is all wrong, or that the Ryan plan for Medicare would have disastrous effects, or whatever, then my duty, as I see it, is to make my case as best I honestly can — not put on a decorous show of civilized discussion that pretends that there aren’t hired guns posing as analysts, and spares the feelings of people who are not in danger of losing their jobs or their health care."

Fighting FOR The Double Dip

Oct 1st, 2011

Kevin Drum argues that the coming double dip will be wholly owned by the Tea Party and their sympathetic (or fearful) agents in the 112th Congress. The kicker:

"If we want them to, both monetary and fiscal policy can have plenty of bite left. Bottom line: If we plummet into a second recession, it will be solely the fault of fanatical conservatives in Congress who refuse for reasons both partisan and ideological to acknowledge that we can do something about this. It'll be the Tea Party Recession of 2011."

I think it's worse than Drum realizes. We're not dealing with a group that's simply opposed to changes in "fiscal and monetary policy" now. We're dealing with a collectively delusional cabal that is opposed to centralized intervention ever. Their meme of "not picking winners" has devolved into an unthinking scheme that ensures greater hardship for most Americans.

So, yeah. They own it.

No Recovery

Aug 24th, 2011

If one accepts the narrow and long held academic definitions of the words "recession" and depression," then technically we are in a recovery. Which makes those 20th Century meanings quite absurd. Job creation is not much different now than it was 10 years ago. That is to say, for a full decade we have have failed to add even enough jobs monthly to accommodate new entrants to the workforce, much less return to employment the millions whose positions were lost during the "height" of the crisis in late 2008 and early 2009.

As Roubini pointed out last week, the crisis is actually structural:

"We thought that markets worked. They're not working."

Over at TNR, Richard A. Posner basically agrees with both points:

"If the notion that we are merely living through the after effects of a mere "recession" that ended in 2009 sounds somewhat ridiculous, that’s because it is. If we were being honest with ourselves, we would call this a depression. That would certainly better convey both the severity of our problems, and the fact that those problems have no evident solutions."

We live in an era within which rational public sector solutions are not only the only real hope for a transformative remedy but are also politically impossible due to the fanatical opposition of a Randian and Misesian Republican Party.

In short, we're screwed.

Flashback... Boehner Doesn't Understand Simple Economics Edition

August 4th, 2011

While reading through some old links, I came across this from Steve Benen. He warned us before the debt deal disaster that Speaker Boehner was "economically illiterate:"

"House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) appears to have made a terrible error in his speech to the Economic Club of New York on Monday. His mistake was sharing with the audience his actual beliefs, which upon even cursory examination, are so conspicuously unintelligent, it’s rather alarming.

Bloomberg News examined Boehner’s assessment of existing U.S. economic policies and found that the House Speaker “built his case on several assertions that are contradicted by market indicators and government reports.” Jonathan Chait took a closer look at Boehner’s remarks on tax policy and discovered they were “gibberish.”

Oops...

July 23rd, 2011
by F. Grey Parker

Well. Yesterday sure was an interesting day. First, we were all subjected to the worst speaker of the U.S. House in living memory refusing to take the President's phone calls. Debt limit crisis? "Phooey," said commander booze-tan. Second, we endured the spectacle of Mr. Waterworks holding a damage control press conference. It was a train wreck in which he utterly failed to explain himself.

Obama: The Democratic Nixon?

July 23rd, 2011

Yesterday, Bruce Bartlett made the case. Republicans of the Cantor/Boehner variety who pander to the FOX echo-chamber should take note.

"Thus Obama took office under roughly the same political and economic circumstances that Nixon did in 1968 except in a mirror opposite way. Instead of being forced to manage a slew of new liberal spending programs, as Nixon did, Obama had to cope with a revenue structure that had been decimated by Republicans.

Liberals hoped that Obama would overturn conservative policies and launch a new era of government activism. Although Republicans routinely accuse him of being a socialist, an honest examination of his presidency must conclude that he has in fact been moderately conservative to exactly the same degree that Nixon was moderately liberal."

Bartlett, with his focus on economics, argues that Obama is essentially a traditional moderate-conservative (read his bullet points).

As we are seeing with the debt crisis, the principal obstacle to his smooth governance and the implementation of policy is that radicals and anarchists have hijacked the language of conservative tradition. By any previously agreed upon metrics, President Obama is a centrist at the very least. 

And, the President is still "the only adult in the room."

Quote Of The Day

June 2nd, 2011

"Balancing a nominal budget will solve nothing, and attempting to achieve such a spurious balance will produce much mischief."
-- William Vickrey

"Market Fundamentalism Is Dead"

May 23rd, 2011

So said Nobel Prize winning economist Joseph Stiglitz recently.