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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsKrugman: Delusions of Wisdom
Both Jonathan Chait and Charles Pierce have a field day with a Politico piece titled, without a hint of irony, Crafting a boom economy. In said piece they talk to various Very Serious People, and divine the insider consensus on What Must Be Done which mainly seems to involve, naturally, cutting Social Security and Medicare while reducing corporate tax rates.
What I find remarkable about this piece is that after everything that has happened these past five years or so, Jim VandeHei and Mike Allen still take it for granted that these people actually know what theyre talking about; the whole premise of the article is that the insiders really do have the key, not just to good policy, but to achieving a dramatic rise in the growth rate.
Now, they dont tell us everyone they talked to; but I think we can safely assume that, with few exceptions, the insiders in question:
- Believed that financial deregulation was a great idea, because bankers had really learned to manage risk
- Did not believe that there was a housing bubble
- Insisted that budget deficits, even in a depressed economy, would send interest rates soaring any day now
- Insisted that austerity measures would promote recovery, not hurt it, because of the confidence fairy
And on and on.
There are some remarkable economic assertions in here. That great economist Jeb Bush yes, Jeb Bush is quoted as declaring that ending structural deficits would boost the growth rate hugely; this would come as news to any economist I know. And, um, arent our structural deficits largely the result of his brothers policies?
- more -
http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/12/11/delusions-of-wisdom/
"That great economist Jeb Bush "
Bump in the Road for Jeb?
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10021960054
CTyankee
(63,912 posts)It is wonderful to have his voice...
1StrongBlackMan
(31,849 posts)You nailed it in one sentence:
It was the REAL fight of the 2012 Presidential election and proves that the fight is not over.
Jackpine Radical
(45,274 posts)Confidence fairies sell imaginary bridges.
JackHughes
(166 posts)It's like bank robbers advising that removing money from the safety of the locked vaults would really help the economy.
JDPriestly
(57,936 posts)byeya
(2,842 posts)I find him sound and a standard Keynesian - which this capitalist country needs badly now if it's to remain capitalist - but I really admire him for speaking bluntly to the inane insiders of DC. He started out trying to see both sides but quickly found out the other side had no serious "side" and were vituperative to boot.
He learned from experience and has been on the offensive since. So...Bravo.
Orrex
(63,223 posts)I recall a decade or so ago that I used to dread his media appearances, because he invariably seemed scared and uncertain, which was a real shame considering that his message was typically spot-on. His delivery and screen presence, however, made it seem like he didn't know what he was talking about.
Fast forward to today, when he can mop the floor with his rhetorical opponents. A great improvement!
byeya
(2,842 posts)of economics.
I don't have a tv but I can say his writing has become more focused and timely as the ignorant attacks on him have intensified. He's smart, knowledgable and brave.
wilt the stilt
(4,528 posts)hey he took macro and micro in college at the 200 level. He knows what he is talking about.
ProSense
(116,464 posts)John2
(2,730 posts)any educated and intelligent person can see his logic is sound. You don't have to be an economist to see that. The other side is just pandering to wealth. None of the proposals they pander to, affect them at all. It makes you cringe, every time you listen to their nonsense. It is really insulting to our intelligence. Especially with those in the media, lecturing to the rest of the country, as if we are morons.