Paul Krugman Nails Another One! (A Zero, Actually)

I love Dr. K and he's not a mean person, but he really nails this guy (Peet) to the wall. Gently. The funny thing (not really) is that Peet is only a stand-in for all those who feel free to talk about economics data without having a clue (or even possibly be able to read a graph) about them. (Although perhaps Peet can, but just didn't.)

His ability to be amazed at the naivete of fools is always a source of glee to me.

So many fools, so little time.

April 30, 2012

Austerity Fantasies

Paul Krugman

Wow. A reader directs me to this interview with John Peet, the Europe editor of The Economist, who declares:

And of the countries that were in trouble, I would say Ireland looks as if it’s the best at the moment because Ireland has implemented very heavy austerity programs, but is now beginning to grow again.

From Ireland’s Central Statistical Office:



See the return to growth, there at the end? Me neither.

To be fair, Peet isn’t alone. The legend of Irish recovery has somehow set in, and nobody on the pro-austerity side seems to feel any need to look at the data, even for a minute, to check whether the legend is true.

Amazing.

And speaking of renowned fools, Dr. Krugman's latest involves the run-in (on TV!) with the known bigtime prevaricator (and inventor of original history) Ron Paul. I think Dr. K   kept his cool under very trying circumstances.

The oddest part for me was listening to Bloomberg's young woman announcer who favored Ron Paul in the discussion and kept inserting nonsense pronouncements, thinking she was helping him out. Eventually, another moderator(?) came on to try to refocus the discussion, but she just kept interjecting her questions to Ron Paul and acting like Dr. K. was making unimportant points.

Take a look and try not to grimace (or turn it off from dismay).




Here's the latest commentary:

May 2, 2012, 11:31 am

The 91 Percent Solution

There’s such a blizzard of misinformation out there that it’s hard to pick any one thing to single out, but David Frum picks up on one bit from the Paul/Paul show: the remarkable way many on the right now portray the postwar years of prosperity as a triumph of libertarian principles.

Yeah, it was a libertarian paradise all right — with a top marginal tax rate of 91 percent, a third of the work force in unions, and a minimum wage much higher relative to the average wage than it is today.

Propose a return to those conditions now, and everyone on the right would predict utter disaster. What we actually had was unprecedented prosperity.

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And they obviously don't want any more of that!