Paul Krugman meme thread

[Mouthwash]

It's an economic debate. What you'd like to happen has no bearing on who's right. I'm left with the impression that you think Ron Paul won because he said things you wanted to hear. It was already pretty lame of him to use words like "big government liberal" which no self-respecting economist would have used.

Lol. It wasn't a "debate," it was a scheduled appearance.

 

[Chimera Kitty]

At the very least it was analysis couched in irony.

Good example of nit-picking at word choice rather than addressing the issue, btw.

Whatever. The point was that the Krugmeister was saying this: "Alan Greenspan needs to create a housing bubble. He thinks he can. I think his optimism about being able to create such a bubble is unwarranted"

At no point did he imply a doubt about whether such a bubble would work, or whether it was a good idea.... he just didn't think it could be created in the first place.

 

[GhostWriter16]

I think that most of the people here would probably discount Austrian economics in favor of Keynesian economics out of hand. I don't know that they have the necessary knowledge to do so (Not so much them in particular as anyone, to my knowledge Austrian economics haven't been tested) but I don't understand economics nearly enough to argue that point. Ron Paul certainly understands Austrian economics more than I do

 

[Mr. Dictator]

Whatever. The point was that the Krugmeister was saying this: "Alan Greenspan needs to create a housing bubble. He thinks he can. I think his optimism about being able to create such a bubble is unwarranted"

At no point did he imply a doubt about whether such a bubble would work, or whether it was a good idea.... he just didn't think it could be created in the first place.

So...he didn't call for a housing bubble?

 

[Leoreth]

You know that Murphy is one of the most famous Austrian economists today and has written like six books? And that they've already argued with each other on their blogs?

If he's so awesome, why does he need to offer money to get Krugman to talk to him?

Lol. It wasn't a "debate," it was a scheduled appearance.

So I guess you don't want to speak about the actual substance of their talk?

 

[innonimatu]

Whatever. The point was that the Krugmeister was saying this: "Alan Greenspan needs to create a housing bubble. He thinks he can. I think his optimism about being able to create such a bubble is unwarranted"

At no point did he imply a doubt about whether such a bubble would work, or whether it was a good idea.... he just didn't think it could be created in the first place.

There's a "dirty" truth behind economics, which no respectable economist will ever admit: it's never in steady state. Creating bubbles can be a good idea in some circumstances. Or the least bad idea.
The preferable action varies not only according to the eye of the beholder, on their personal interests and ideas, it depends also on the circumstances. There is no "real" preferred action.

Economics is politics. The idea that it is a purely technical field is a convenient lie.

I think that most of the people here would probably discount Austrian economics in favor of Keynesian economics out of hand. I don't know that they have the necessary knowledge to do so (Not so much them in particular as anyone, to my knowledge Austrian economics haven't been tested) but I don't understand economics nearly enough to argue that point. Ron Paul certainly understands Austrian economics more than I do

Austrians had their day many times in the past. Austrian economics is little more than a rehash of the classical economics as prescribed and demanded by international bankers during the late 19th century. They want "free markets" for capital (originally supposed to be regulated by gold payments, later by floating exchange rates), they want to embrace the "business cycle", they prescribe "creative destruction", they abhor inflation. They originally started sorting their ideas as a "school of economics" in the aftermath of the post-WW1 european inflation (Schumpeter was the first minister of finances of the new country Austria) and they got ample opportunity to put them into practice in the messy inter-war years. Of all their follies, obsession with controlling inflation has historically been the most destructive one. Some people hold that chancellor Brünning in Germany was blindly following an "austrian" economic recipe in 1930 (others see his actions as a ploy to default on german war debts); we all know what came after. Austrian too was one of Churchill's many follies, the return of the UK to the gold standard in 1925. More recently all "austerity policies" in countries since the 1970s have been justified with "austrian" arguments. None that I can recall now, not a single one, has succeeded in meeting its stated aims. Many have led to economic collapse and dictatorship and/or outright street revolution.

 

[sophie]

I think that most of the people here would probably discount Austrian economics in favor of Keynesian economics out of hand. I don't know that they have the necessary knowledge to do so (Not so much them in particular as anyone, to my knowledge Austrian economics haven't been tested) but I don't understand economics nearly enough to argue that point. Ron Paul certainly understands Austrian economics more than I do

*sigh* As actual economists, Integral, Cutlass, and Hygro would be qualified to tell you why the Austrian school represents bad economics, the problem is that you dismiss them out of hand for telling you so, much in the same way that you dismissed Krugman out of hand even though he actually did make Paul look like a total idiot (He admittedly didn't have to try very hard, because Paul's knowledge of macroeconomics seems to be that of somebody who read the first ten pages of his Intro to Macroeconomics textbook freshman year at University and then promptly closed the book and refused to read further).

 

[Chimera Kitty]

I freely admit that Ron Paul argues his points very poorly in that clip. Even when he's right, he's a poor debater.

So...he didn't call for a housing bubble?

He did. He just had doubts about the feasibility of creating it.