8 Responses to “I’m Old Enough To Remember…”

1. Greg Says:
   December 14th, 2021 at 7:29 am

   Paul Krugman is to economics, what the guy who wrote “Yummy, Yummy, Yummy, I got love in my Tummy,” was to music.

2. jdm Says:
   December 14th, 2021 at 8:06 am

   That ^ was an unexpected analogy.

3. bikebubba Says:
   December 14th, 2021 at 8:19 am

   I don’t know if it’s Nobel quality, but he did contribute with his thesis. It’s just that after his Sveriges Riksbank, he went all political.

   Regarding the central thesis, however, it’s worth noting that Friedrich Hayek was the first non-Keynesian economist to win the prize, so it’s not exactly true that people who aren’t very smart have not been winning Nobels until recently. There’s also a fair amount of chicanery in literature and the peace prize for a long time–a history professor of mine noted that his view was that Teddy Roosevelt won a peace prize for a war he’d had a certain role in starting. Oopsie. So we were, arguably, trained to do a lot of trust for the guys in Christiania that never was really warranted.

4. Greg Says:
   December 14th, 2021 at 8:39 am

   My brother reads Paul Krugman religiously and when I speak of religion, I mean it literally. My brother is a believer in the progressive religion and Paul Krugman is his priest.

   But all Krugman does is recite pious progressive talking points.

   “But he is a really, really smart guy,” my brother whines, “He won a NOBEL PRIZE,” he says as if expertise in one domain means expertise in all domains.

   “William Shockley was a really, really smart guy too and also won a Nobel Prize…,” I say, which abruptly ends all discussion.

5. Mammuthus Primigenesis Says:
   December 14th, 2021 at 10:31 am

   The Nobel prize that Krugman won was not a Nobel prize endowed by Alfred Nobel.
   The prize is paid for by a Swedish bank that selects its winner.
   Krugman’s winning research was a paper on why some items are cheaper to produce locally rather than purchase in the global marketplace. His example was manhole covers, I believe.
   Economists like Krugman impress rubes because they know some math.
   A first year physics student a small state college knows more math and uses it more than Paul Krugman.

6. Mammuthus Primigenesis Says:
   December 14th, 2021 at 10:33 am

   The problem with Krugman’s take on inflation is that inflation, once unleashed, is difficult to contain. That is because price inflation is based on ideas of future inflation. There are few tools to combat this other than a drastic and fast reduction in the money supply.

7. Joe Doakes Says:
   December 14th, 2021 at 1:28 pm

   The problem is, they’re using the wrong measurement tool.

   The Consumer Price Index includes too many things consumers actually buy, like food, housing and petroleum products (gasoline, natural gas and heating oil), which are going up in price like a rocket. That makes it look as if inflation is rampant.

   What they ought to do is replace those items with things that don’t change price as quickly. Concrete pavement. Blue chip stocks. Real estate investment trusts. Or best of all, TIPS (Treasury Inflation Protection Securities) which are basically promissory notes issued by the federal government to you. What could go wrong?

   Yes indeed, if we measured inflation using the proper tools, we’d find there’s hardly any inflation at all, maybe even negative inflation, which means we need more government spending to save the economy from crashing. Quick – pass Build Back Better and get $3 trillion in free money circulating in society.

   It’s all in what you decide to count, and who does the counting. Sort of like elections, if you know what I mean.

8. Pureblood Pete Says:
   December 15th, 2021 at 7:25 am

   Krugman’s observation regrading creditors vs. debtors assumes the dollar you owe is smaller than the dollar in your wallet.

   That’s rAt Emery level thinkenations.

   The farther left Krugman drifts, the dumber he gets. There’s a lesson in that.

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