Wednesday, September 23, 2009

Paul Krugman, Surely You're Joking

"It's hard to believe for now, but not long ago economists were congratulating themselves over the success of their field. Those successes--or so they believed--were both theoretical and practical, leading to a golden era for the profession. ... And in the real world, economists believed they had things under control: the 'central problem of depression-prevention has been solved,' declared Robert Lucas of the University of Chicago in his 2003 presidential address to the American Economics Association. ... Few economists saw our current crisis coming. ... 'The General Theory' is a work of profound, deep analysis", Paul Krugman (PK) at the NYT, 6 September 2009, link: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/06/magazine/06Economic-t.html.

If you have the stomach for it, read PK's piece. For my money, it's garbage. PK was born in February 1953 making him 17 months younger than your truly. One would hope PK's knowledge of the history of economic thought was at least equal to mine. He's an economics professor. Hahahahahaha. Economists thought they had the business cycle controlled during the New Frontier. Boy were they wrong. I remember. It seems the same failed economic nostrums resurface every 25 years or so, with new names. Unsurprisingly, PK fails to mention Austrian economics once in his 16-page tome. That's how obscure Austrian economics is.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Krugman is a New York/Washington Establishment whore.

Anonymous said...

I'd like to see a Krugman/Stieglitz wrestling match.

I'd have my $$ on Joe.

Independent Accountant said...

Anonymous 2:
I'll give odds on Joe too.

IA

Robyn said...

there is something called common sense...
and then there are economists, the SEC, the IRS, the legislative branch of our government

[sigh] i'm going out on my bike, where a flat is a flat and not debateable.

Anonymous said...

Krugman couldn't carry your water. He was given the Nobel Prize for the same reason as the Big O. Pump up the resumes of the puke boys.