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Paul Krugman: "We Should Kick The Can Down The Road. It’s The Responsible Thing To Do"
The below article, recreated in its grotesque entirety, is a real, serious Op-Ed written by a supposedly real, non page-view trolling, Nobel-prize winning economist, in a serious paper, the New York Times. It can be classified with one word: jaw-dropping.
We can only hope that some time in the next five years, when the global economy is in ashes following the implosion of the final central bank bubble, that the US department of injustice will prosecute authors of such drivel (and all those sell-side analysts who have had Buy recommendations in the 2009-2013 period) with the same ferocity it has demonstrated toward those US-downgrading rating agencies, which are now supposed to be solely accountable for the Second Great Depression and the $30 trillion or so in misallocated capital in the past five years.
Kick That Can
By Paul Krugman
John Boehner, the speaker of the House, claims to be exasperated. “At some point, Washington has to deal with its spending problem,” he said Wednesday. “I’ve watched them kick this can down the road for 22 years since I’ve been here. I’ve had enough of it. It’s time to act.”
Actually, Mr. Boehner needs to refresh his memory. During the first decade of his time in Congress, the U.S. government was doing just fine on the fiscal front. In particular, the ratio of federal debt to G.D.P. was a third lower when Bill Clinton left office than it was when he came in. It was only when George W. Bush arrived and squandered the Clinton surplus on tax cuts and unfunded wars that the budget outlook began deteriorating again.
But that’s a secondary issue. The key point is this: While it’s true that we will eventually need some combination of revenue increases and spending cuts to rein in the growth of U.S. government debt, now is very much not the time to act. Given the state we’re in, it would be irresponsible and destructive not to kick that can down the road.
Start with a basic point: Slashing government spending destroys jobs and causes the economy to shrink.
This really isn’t a debatable proposition at this point. The contractionary effects of fiscal austerity have been demonstrated by study after study and overwhelmingly confirmed by recent experience — for example, by the severe and continuing slump in Ireland, which was for a while touted as a shining example of responsible policy, or by the way the Cameron government’s turn to austerity derailed recovery in Britain.
Even Republicans admit, albeit selectively, that spending cuts hurt employment. Thus John McCain warned earlier this week that the defense cuts scheduled to happen under the budget sequester would cause the loss of a million jobs. It’s true that Republicans often seem to believe in “weaponized Keynesianism,” a doctrine under which military spending, and only military spending, creates jobs. But that is, of course, nonsense. By talking about job losses from defense cuts, the G.O.P. has already conceded the principle of the thing.
Still, won’t spending cuts (or tax increases) cost jobs whenever they take place, so we might as well bite the bullet now? The answer is no — given the state of our economy, this is a uniquely bad time for austerity.
One way to see this is to compare today’s economic situation with the environment prevailing during an earlier round of defense cuts: the big winding down of military spending in the late 1980s and early 1990s, following the end of the cold war. Those spending cuts destroyed jobs, too, with especially severe consequences in places like southern California that relied heavily on defense contracts. At the national level, however, the effects were softened by monetary policy: the Federal Reserve cut interest rates more or less in tandem with the spending cuts, helping to boost private spending and minimize the overall adverse effect.
Today, by contrast, we’re still living in the aftermath of the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression, and the Fed, in its effort to fight the slump, has already cut interest rates as far as it can — basically to zero. So the Fed can’t blunt the job-destroying effects of spending cuts, which would hit with full force.
The point, again, is that now is very much not the time to act; fiscal austerity should wait until the economy has recovered, and the Fed can once again cushion the impact.
But aren’t we facing a fiscal crisis? No, not at all. The federal government can borrow more cheaply than at almost any point in history, and medium-term forecasts, like the 10-year projections released Tuesday by the Congressional Budget Office, are distinctly not alarming. Yes, there’s a long-term fiscal problem, but it’s not urgent that we resolve that long-term problem right now. The alleged fiscal crisis exists only in the minds of Beltway insiders.
Still, even if we should put off spending cuts for now, wouldn’t it be a good thing if our politicians could simultaneously agree on a long-term fiscal plan? Indeed, it would. It would also be a good thing if we had peace on earth and universal marital fidelity. In the real world, Republican senators are saying that the situation is desperate — but not desperate enough to justify even a penny in additional taxes. Do these sound like men ready and willing to reach a grand fiscal bargain?
Realistically, we’re not going to resolve our long-run fiscal issues any time soon, which is O.K. — not ideal, but nothing terrible will happen if we don’t fix everything this year. Meanwhile, we face the imminent threat of severe economic damage from short-term spending cuts.
So we should avoid that damage by kicking the can down the road. It’s the responsible thing to do.
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"Start with a basic point: Slashing government spending destroys jobs and causes the economy to shrink."
The central purpose of government is NOT to create jobs ad infinitum. If more people of Paul Krugman's mindset get their way, government might expand forever until it consumes everything (a.k.a. a black hole). This guy needs to be put on the ignore list forevermore.
taking the other side of this claim..."increasing government spending creates jobs and causes the economy to expand".
hmmm..so increasing government spending by the odd 2 trillion (12% of GDP) in the last four years means (assuming each job for four years costs $200,000 at the current $50,000 p.a. of household income) that 10 million jobs have been created by government
a) that unemployment would have been 10 million higher at 22.3 million instead of 12.3 milllion currently
b) that the premise is a pile of crap
please use the up and down arrows for a) (up) and b) (down) accordingly!
Why are the feds loading up on so much ammo?
http://news.investors.com/politics-andrew-malcolm/020813-643707-obama-ho...
They read the comments on ZH? Just a guess....
PAUL FREDO Burn is books, his tv appearances, his Noble BS prize, and all of his propaganda crap;
or
nominate him to head the SEC. he s smart, his FREDO, he can do it....he demands respect.
http://youtu.be/vYabrQrXt4A quick put him on 60 minutes or ABC 1,2,3 do rai me, for the sheeple
Wrong Fredo, I think you mean this guy.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sZHCVyllnck
Whats the differnce : SELL SIDE or BUY SIDE analyst ??
Hey, its worked all this time. What could go wrong.
This time is not different at all.
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Oh, whats that over there, far away. What a funny looking bird. Is that a swan? i thought those were white.
You convenienly forgot to mention it was Bill Clinton who gave a big helping hand in setting up today's situation by repealing Glass-Stengal and allowing the quadrillion dollar MBS and CDS derivative bomb to be created and subsequently explode. He may have had "surplusses" by some definitions, but they were all subsequently wiped out when Bush and Obama okay'd QE to bail out their banking buddies on the back of the sheeple.
I wouldn't assume that Clinton or Bush or Obama actually initiate policy themselves that impacts the financial sector in such ways. They most likely do what their Wall Street whoremongers pressure them to do. For example, it was obvious who was banging the drums to pass TARP before TARP was passed. Wall Street was, and any of those 3 Presidents would have approved TARP.
There were never real surpluses under Clinton. Utter lie repeated often enough. Never once did the debt go down under his budgets. By law they rolled the new found money into buying US debt while borrowing from the trust funds to operate government. Never once did they retire any debt.
Clinton's and the 90's congresses' part in this mess:
1) Repeal glass-steagall
2) NAFTA leading to crappy service sector jobs replacing real work
3) Exponential undermining of prudent loaning process via lobbying by the GSEs and private banks... which turned into laws and frivolous, intimidation lawsuits
4) Free money from the fed really ramped up and not reining it in
5) Treating terrorism lightly after 2 attacks and having 1 war come about from it.
6) Late Edit: Changes to how unemployment and cpi (this one might have reagan to blame too) are calculated to allow for more of this fraud and cheating of those who save.
FTR, Bush sucks too for continuing/ratifying the bullshit.
BUT can everyone please shut the fuck up about Clinton being an amazing president because the economy was humming along in spite of his policies because of the TECHNOLOGY REVOLUTION!
Enron has surpluses too.
Krugman is a coward, pure and simple. And it is a cowardly thing to stand by while good people suffer by preveting people of good quality to act
Krugman's policy is this "The point, again, is that now is very much not the time to act;.."
Here is another (I took it from here, http://tartarus.org/~martin/essays/burkequote.html:
Perpetrators, collaborators, bystanders, victims: we can be clear about three of these categories. The bystander, however, is the fulcrum. If there are enough notable exceptions, then protest reaches a critical mass. We don’t usually think of history as being shaped by silence, but, as English philosopher Edmund Burke said, ‘The only thing necessary for the triumph [of evil] is for good men to do nothing.’
Now "is very much not the time to act" never becomes tomorrow
...and that's when we address the problem.
The ultimate "free kick" of the can.
Was Krugman advising the Greeks on how to run their economy. Sure sounds like it. I'd bet Krugman is getting a kickback from the Obama regime. We won't know about it just like the Spanish government until the whole thing collapses.
Krugman would have made a great WW1 general....endless charges into German machine gun fire.
Does this pathetic dim-wit ever ask what the money already spent has achieved - who has benefited? All I see is continued speculation by wall street and their crony friends....not one year of massive, obscene wall street bonus' were ever missed at least!!!
I wonder if Paul K would gladly hand over his own money to the government? Of course not, that would just be silly.
hear, hear...well said..bravo
If you really want a mind numbing experience, just read the comment thread below Krugman's piece. It is so full of misinformation, partisan politics, and absolute bullshit that I actually got angry reading what these dumb fucks have to say.
How do you get as stupid as Krugman? I cannot fathom it. He has become the pied piper of idiocy.
If the bearded potato has true conviction for endless can-kicking he should support the following without hesitation:
How about it Dr. French Fries?
Happy Meal coming my way?
If not, why not?
George Orwell 1984 Newspeak Appendix
Milton Friedman - Orwellian Newspeak <--- During Carter era. Make this go viral.
BTW, Fuck you Krugman.
It's good to see you're starting to understand these things. Theach to your children, my friends. (By "you" I mean US citizens. Most of europeans are so fucking far yet...)
Be aware, anyway. Those are trickier mother fuckers.
"In the real world, Republican senators are saying that the situation is desperate — but not desperate enough to justify even a penny in additional taxes. Do these sound like men ready and willing to reach a grand fiscal bargain?"
I am beginning to think these guys live on another planet or that they don't have SS numbers.
"But aren’t we facing a fiscal crisis? No, not at all. The federal government can borrow more cheaply than at almost any point in history, and medium-term forecasts, like the 10-year projections released Tuesday by the Congressional Budget Office, are distinctly not alarming. Yes, there’s a long-term fiscal problem, but it’s not urgent that we resolve that long-term problem right now. The alleged fiscal crisis exists only in the minds of Beltway insiders."
When do we stop, asshole?
And it isn't borrowing it is printing. Krugman is just a straight up LIAR and a fraud. If the Fed is buying it all, it is printing. Enjoy gold at 10k Krughole.
Krugman is right.
We need to take money out of whats left of the productive economy and have Govt. 'Invest in winners' like this:
http://blog.heritage.org/2012/10/18/president-obamas-taxpayer-backed-gre...
Is it too much to hope for a post-apocalypse tribunal featuring PK and others of his ilk?
ilk like:
Greenspan
Bernanke
Paulson
Dimon
Blankfein
Liesman
Geithner
Obama
Bush
Pelosi
Reid
McCain
Boehner
and on, and on...
It is a good hope indeed..
Paul Krugman is officially certifiable... That piece of shit should be shipped off to Guantanamo Bay. That scum sucking financial terrorist belongs in cuba.
Isn't Krugman correct? Doesn't the negative 2012 4th quarter GDP print prove his point? Government spending dropped 12.5% and the result was a depressed economy.
Look we can all agree on the problems of misplaced investment and the problems of yearly trillion dollar deficits, but to suggest that the government can get to a balanced budget or better yet a surplus without massive private debt is pure economic garbage. It is economically impossible unless you are running a trade surplus. Basic stuff!
Accounting 101 is about the level of your argument. Keep going...get to 102...then start Austroian economics 101.
Disprove my economic fact. While you are at it, prove the Earth is flat.
His confession on the way down to Guantanamo would make interesting reading.
Keynesianism is an excuse to be a thief and fool. It is just a religion with no basis in economics. If you really read up on it, you will see it is complete nonsense and self contradicting at every turn. It makes no GD sense except as an excuse for collectivism. It is not economics at all. It is just idiocy. Krugman needs to be shot out of cannon into a brick wall.
Makes perfect sense, let the liberals spend like crazy when they are in charge, and then blame the conservitives when they try to pay the bills. Even when times were good, unemployment was very low, you couldn't cut spending because it would cause a recession they would say. Perhaps they should just tax wealth. If you are worth more than a million dollars just send it all in. And no exclusions for polititions or Buffets or anyone. I'm curious what the vote would be.
But an oxymoron from a moron, you gotta love it! This also brings into mind these awards they give out. Like the Nobel prize for economists and the Nobel peace prize. Maybe someone here will nominate me. I certainly deserve it more than they do.
The type of spending Paul is recommending is a drop in the bucket. The Stimulus spending is almost completely gone. People are falling off extended unemployment benefits. The wars are ending. The deficit is set to shrink all on its own as these things go away.
If we also simultaneously enact deep spending cuts in the context of elevated unemployment levels it would be too much all at once. I don't think anyone expects a big spending bill to pass congress right now. Nor should anyone expect big spending cuts right now.
Would it make sense to have a time-limited additional stimulus bill focused on infrastructure? Yes. Will we get it? No. And that is at least partially due to the ZOMG crew at ZH. So, congratulations, I guess.
$5trillion of bailouts later, and now he want's a few trillion more for the infrastructure. Hey Einstein, the Fed. is pumping $85 billion into the system every month!
Right, by taking toxic investments off the Big Bank's books. They are not rebuilding infrastructure. Oh, and the bailouts, whether liquid cash injections or securing debt, is $23 trillion. None of that was used for food stamps or unemployment benefits.
Cutting the spending will be very painful perhaps even disasterious for many. It would have been less painful and a lesser of a disaster if they had done it sooner. Therefore logic dictates that it will be much more painful and a disaster squared if we wait longer.
Let me ask you a question... a certain family I know who got in spending trouble couldn't pay their bills, then took out more credit cards to pay the ones they coundn't pay, an borrowed from everyone and everywhere possible with the hope that someday they would get a higher paying job. Wouldn't it had been better for them to face reality before getting the added debt if only because at a certain point my friend realized there was no way out and they may as well spend till they were stopped.
UN-FUCKING-BELIEVABLE
Krugman appears to be completely indifferent to the pain these tax and spend policies are inflicting on the common man. He is either PURE EVIL or a WORLD CLASS ASSHOLE
@ new guy,
No, I beg to differ.
a fucking garganchuan mother fucking Asshole.
my apologies, I was trying to sugar coat it.
Notice to Paul - I want my dream and I refuse to pay for yours!
I guessed he missed the recent research showing the "multiplier" of deficit spending is point two. indicating we could cut a dollar of spending and only lose 20 cents of economic activity. There is so much money and debt that each additional dollar has virtually no impact in stimulating the economy.
http://macrowealthpreservation.blogspot.com/2012/09/money-going-down-bla...
He is playing to the masses as a mouthpiece of the administration and it is working. Some people love this type of thinking. The reality is the Obama administration knows how to play the electorate and it's bread and circus's for everyone.
aliens and trillion dollar platinum coins. cant wait for whats next. and theres always something next
"We can only hope that some time in the next five years, when the global economy is in ashes following the implosion of the final central bank bubble, that the US department of injustice will prosecute authors of such drivel"
http://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2013/02/philip-pilkington-the-fear-indust...
errrr.... yeah I agree!
When Krugman was listing all the wars where post war spendng cuts caused a recession I was waiting for him to list the biggest post war spending cuts of all - those after WWII. I think this is an example of Krugman using selective data. After WWII when there were drastic cuts in military spending and a huge increase of new entrants into the workforce - i.e., returning veterns, and the American economy took off on the biggest economic expansion in history. At the time the Keynesian economists of their day predicted doom from all the spending cuts and advocated a huge expansion of government to compensate. Due to either less socialist views or sheer dumb luck Truman and the congress failed to follow their advice, thus unleashing a torrent of economic growth like the world had never seen.
Krugman is such an idiot or simply a dishonest fuck.
Here are some more details: http://www.independent.org/newsroom/article.asp?id=138
Exactly who does this jackass have any credibility with? He must be blowing someone at the NY Times to still be collecting a paycheck. What an utter joke!
His logic is inescapable: if the politicians are not serious about fixing this problem, then it can't really be a problem...
Riiiight.
That's has as much sense to it as Biden's spend money to stop going bankrupt idea
We are four years from the stimulus bill and follow on efforts of keynsian stimulus, and beyond stabilizing the us economy immediately after the market crash of late 2007 very little has been accomplished beyond making said economy more and more dependant on government stimulus. So from that perspective krugman is right in so far as cutting government spending will inevitably lower GDP. But where he is completely dishonest is admitting that stimulus has not only failed but every day that government stimulus is made preeminent to market activity via government policy makes any private sector led recovery more difficult to achieve. Essentially. Krugman and his gang avoid the issue of the economic inefficiency produced by government management of the economy. The best example is green energy which has been made totally inefficient with recent discoveries of shale oil and gas, demonstrating why a properly overseen (overseen so private sector participants don' turn into crooks) market is far more efficient than an economy run by bureaucrats. Self interest will drive investments into profitable enterprises, while government interests continue to pursue a losing proposition in already failed green initiatives. This is the argument that krugman avoids because he knows his economic ideology has already failed. He just won't admit it. Similarly, the government continues to subsidize student loans without focusing on creation of jobs to begin with--a lack of trained workers only comes into play when an excess of jobs can't be filled. Current economic policy contends that education alone will produce jobs and a vibrant economy, and this is clearly not occurring. Failed policy all around. Krugman is therefore a charlatan and a disgrace.
A few other prime examples are Amtrak and the good ol US Postal Service. Billions in red ink year after year.
Ok how much?
What was your price Krugman to puke this bullshit piece out.
The responsible thing to do... please.
Confront it now, confront it later the result is going to be the same.
Now kicking his arse down the road a spell. That would be the responsible thing to do.
OK. Let's follow Prof. Krugman's line of thought.
How long can the Fed hold interest rates down? What happens when CPI hits 3-3.5%? The Fed will have no choice but to raise interest rates. Then, all of the debt will have to be financed at higher interest rates. Which means higher interest payments on the debt. So, the Treasury will have to borrow even more money to make the interest payments on the debt, and 'round and down we go. But maybe that's not so bad.
Prof Krugman may have a Nobel Prize in economics, but he don't know shit about finance.
And, BTW, that Nobel Prize he got was for work on Comparative Advantage against Ricardo's Theory. Ricardo was recently shown to be correct and Krugman wrong by 2 economists at.....wait for it......MIT. Krugman's alma marter.
http://web.mit.edu/newsoffice/2012/confirming-ricardo-0620.html
Krugman received his Nobel for work in the study of global trade patterns. I have to remind his googly-eyed lefty groupies of that fact more frequently than I would like.
IIRC, his study was too reliant on technology. Soemthing like, countries that are more technologically advanced have an advantage over those not. That may have been true to some degree in the 70s. Not so much, today.
OT. Here is some other information you need to be aware of. Black swan in the making in agriculture.
What has happened: huge over winter bee colony losses throughout the U.S. and into Canada this year. Really, really bad. And beekeeping hasn't been doing exactly well in the past 20 years.
What's the impact: farmers of fruits that need pollinators are going to be scrambling. Almonds, apples, berries, cucumbers, peppers, tomatoes, strawberries.
Disclosure: I'm a beekeeper but not a gambler in commodities.
Link to two articles on the almond pollination season coming up now. Almond growers can't get enough bees for ANY price. Beekeepers can't provide what they don't have and the almond pollination is the most profitable event for beekeepers every year bar none. Honey is just a byproduct that pays for gas. The pollination is where the money is.
http://www.apinews.com/pt/noticias-de-apicultura/item/20926-usa-are-not-...
http://www.centralvalleybusinesstimes.com/stories/001/?ID=22823
So I should be long almond futures?
I'd go long killer bees.
Folks in places like Texas and AZ have them and work them. Same with South and Central America. They're just ornery as hell.
That might be one takeaway. Pollinator services are cheap compared to the value of the crop. But if you can't get pollinators your crop doesn't set and you are F-u-c-k-e-d.
Add a drought, maybe a dash of locusts, and the hunger games may no longer be a book or movie series......
It has been said that we would follow the honey bee into oblivion.
Old article below, but spot on.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/comment/ambroseevans_pritchard/830697...
Very good article, and not much has changed. Last year was very good for beekeepers and the thought was that we might finally be turning the corner. Looks like we did...right into the path of a speeding train.
Globalism at work. Stay hungry my friends, stay hungry.
kicking the can to save Pax Americana and the NWO, is adding insult to injury.
Kicking the can to muzzle the Oligarchy, reestablish rule of the representative people, to nationalise the oligarchy market with the extirpation of its inherent evil of fractional reserve and banksta derivative fed oligarchy; to reinistate the real economy under true unfettered, non polluted government and strict regulation, yes; I'll buy into a return to responsibilty of elected, separation of powers and people centric market capitalism. Balance...
But Krugman does not speak for that as aim, he speaks for current oligarchy as the POLITICAL STATUS QUO and kicking the can as a means...sterile stockholm syndrome reasoning. Better to let this beast die, whatever the price to the people.
Don't sell human values down the river for false gods. We will always rise again; thats history.
imagçne I beleived what wad told to me during whatever campai,gn ...
The gentleman has peripheral artery disease of the cranium. Gangrene has set in. If you can't make it better, don't make it worse. Gad.
Arrest those pig bankers and gay economists. No more decadence. The world's too old for this bullshit.
Look at the eyes -- they scream RETARD (or acid tripping)
Krugman comedy hour launches: Leaving links exposed to copy. :0
Constant-demography Employment (Wonkish But Relevant) -
http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/10/06/constant-demography-employment-wonkish-but-relevant/
Persuasive Advertising Techniques, just not in Argentina.
http://www.buzzle.com/articles/persuasive-advertising-techniques.html
The New York Times Predictor
http://thepeoplescube.com/peoples-tools/the-new-york-times-predictor-t463.html
Don’t forget to click on the NYT predictor tab created back in 2006. You can produce your very own 2013 Krugman Newspeak headlines. /sarc
He has an infinite ego and ambition, would kill to get closer to the inner circle, and he has got it all wrong. Thats why he does what he does.
The situation in the U.S. does not look very dissimilar compared to Europe, by the way.
I find this hard to believe that he really believes the lies he writes. Beyond words. My God.
I happened to see Mr Krugman on Bloomberg the other week. First they called him a "Nobel Prize winner" (as do Zerohedge above). That is of course not correct. He ia a winner of "The Swedish Riksbank's Prize _in memory_ of Alfred Nobel". Not a Nobel Prize. Alfred nobel did never have the intention of giving economists anything at all.
Secondly. Mr Krugman spoke about Sweden with glittering eyes. "Sweden is a good place to live in" "They have high taxes, _mainly v.a.t._ (sales tax)" That is so far from reality you can come. The Sales Tax in Sweden is 25%, However Swedes pay _more_ than 60% of their earnings each year! Once again more than 60% of their earnings go to the centralized government.
If Mr Krugman is this sloppy with reality when talking about Sweden. How sloppy is he when talking about the US?
Im sure you can find a clip at Bloomberg.com with Mr Krugman talking.
Monday Headline sponsored by DHS as PSA
Experts: Democracy, Freedom Increases Crime Rate
You have to work "for the club" interests to have any chance of getting The Swedish Riksbank's Prize _in memory_ of Alfred Nobel.
What we need Krugman is more productivity. "Jobs" may or may not lead to that, and new government jobs at the margin will not.
Restate Krugman's "basic point" as "Slashing government spending eliminates sinecures and causes productivity to increase" and he has a great point. Where's my Nobel Prize in common sense?
The question is does Krugman believe his own BS? Maybe he is just a hater.
Here's the biggest flaw (of many) in Krugnuts reasoning:
The federal government can borrow more cheaply than at almost any point in history...
Bullshit.
When the government has to borrow two dollars to get GDP to grow by one dollar, it's borrowing at 100%.
The first $5 Trillion in US government debt produced a $10 Trillion economy.
The last $10 T grew it by $5T.
Get it, Paulie?
I say change the GDP calculation by subtracting debt incurred. Krugman's ability to help the "economy" goes up in smoke. But no, Krugman doesn't want to admit that one risk taking entrepreneur is worth more than a thousand Krugmans. We want clarity, which is why I want a crash.
you mean more debt doesn't = more sales? hmm..unless you have a PhD, i'm not sure i am allowed to agree with you///sarc off!
"...that the US department of injustice will prosecute authors of such drivel (and all those sell-side analysts who have had Buy recommendations in the 2009-2013 period)..."
No, no, no. Freedom of speech does include freedom to spout drivel, to say things that are wrong or misleading. It includes misleading advice. Everything else opens up the gate to dictatorship. What we need instead is mass media that act as an actual free market for ideas and perceptions - where consumers get informed and which isn't biased towards some mainstream attitude which causes every dissident getting treated like a basket-case.
Krugman has a right to his own opinion and to publish it too; it's just that one doesn't have to agree with him.
Just got back from the public pistol range here in Cali.The range master said he had never seen anything like it (a group of fifty men and women getting firearm safety training thru a 2 yr. college). Then I almost get roadraged on the way home.Go figure....
Just fucking stack. And keep stacking.
Krugman has the Stockholm syndrome. Full blown.
More likely possessed by a demon.
krugman must have a picture of wimpy in his wallet for inspiration because wimpy understood that a burger today for payment on tuesday was the best burger.
"So we should avoid that damage by kicking the can down the road. It’s the responsible thing to do."
Perhaps in Krugman's vernacular " kicking the can" means " kicking the ass". As in our ass. It makes a lot more sense in that context. Pompous asshole.
Miffed:-)
Kicking the can soon to end.....the Dems in the Senate are going to propose a $120 Billion cut in spending over 10 YEARS. Problem solved!!!
Finally he lets the cat out of the bag and openly proclaims:
Let's do the easy thing now and the hard thing later! (Has worked thousands of times before - NOT.)
I refuse to believe what I just read.
Come on, just one more money fix, you know, to hold us over til we catch a break. I promise it will be the last time.
Spoken like a true addict.
we gave to mr.Krugman our comments on http://trendybull777.blog.com/
because he is a member of....talking in english,we did it in english to by own comments
Say what you want, but when one of you guys, including Tyler Durden, wins a Nobel prize, I will take you seriously.
That is really, really, really stupid. Obama won a Nobel peace prize. If that does not tell you that the Nobel organization is a corrupt bunch of cronies, then nothing will. They give the prizes to their pet insiders, not to the people who deserve them... should be obvious.
A Nobel peace prize is a stupid award....
And the prize for voodoo economics is???????????????
Kinda uncomfortable with spoiled children who believe they only deserve the benefits and never the consequences of their choices, running the country and the world.
I question the notion that the federal debt to GDP under Bill Clinton etc... wasn't sustainable and not "real" due to the fact that when Bill Clinton left office his "goldilocks economy" was a farce due to phantom wealth, employment and "profits" from the Y2K sham, dot com fraud (essentially millions in temporary jobs, tax revenue and implied riches in tech that evaporated by 2001) and even throw in Tobacco settlement to the coffers (go ahead and throw in some real spending cuts due to welfare reform) all led to a false surplus that was destin to go the way of Verbal Kent/Kobayshi, and poof it was gone.
Phony fraud phony fraud temporary fraud phony false fraud fraud fraud fraudfraudfraudfraudfraudfraudfraudfraudfraudfraudfraud.............................................
Thank you. Budgets balance magically when stocks trade at records vs GDP and enormous PEs.
Oh and don't forget that the Nasdaq was already in free fall, down 50% as his minions stole all the W's off the keyboards.
Krugman is not even worthy of being quoted anymore he's so deluded.
C'mon...ZeroHedge is so blindingly bearish, they've cost you 200 S&P points. For chrissakes, show me something that Zero Hedge has done to win admiration! I feel confident that the posters to this forum are smack in the middle of the IQ bell shaped curve near 100....Tyler doesn't have a Nobel prize in any discipline.
How do you know? I thought everyone was anonymous.
I thought most here were bullish on nominal stock, gold and other asset prices as the currency debases. Weimar and Zimbabwe were great equity markets as has been the US since 666 on the S&P.
It's the damage to the economy and the underlying capital misallocation being caused by Krugman types that is problematic, potentially HUGELY in the years ahead. At some point, that is problematic for asset markets, too, just not yet.
The Nobel bunch are a group of backslappers who've basically made their award a laughing stock by awarding the Nobel "Peace" Prize to none other than our illustrious Assassin-in-Chief. Love them drones!
I like drones...I just wish they replaced the standard armaments with neutron bombs.
YGTBSM!!!!!!
Krugman=D.Bag
Krugman eats taxpayer after mating. Krugman declares, all insects must kick the can down the road…
‘We must suck from our host to survive’
-Paul Krugman 2013
Didn't Obama sort of make the phrase "kicking the can down the road" famous while running for office emphatically stating he would in fact NO LONGER kick the can down the road?
Crazy Krugman! What is he smoking?
There is a day of reckoning coming, and it's going to happen sooner, rather than later! I think we have (at most) 2-3 years before the debt debacle of a generation!
I would rather have some time to smoke some legally. Not much interested in any of the mountain of "you can't do this" laws out there because they do not matter anyway.
Krugman wants gentiles to keep digging holes in the middle of a desert. No questions asked. Just do it.
My thoughts about Krugman:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UyOaTo_MiFE
Krugman is a traitor, charge and convict him for treason, then hang him from a tree in front of the white house.
In theory what people like this mean is "kick the can down the road until I'm retired." In practice, it means kicking the can down the road forever, because each next person believes the same thing.
Which means we are in crisis FOREVER.
We print money FOREVER.
We go into more debt FOREVER.
We have immigration and population growth FOREVER.
We try to keep old people alive FOREVER.
We have wars and a police state FOREVER.
A whole generation of people has grown up with the idea of infinite everything, without consequences. A more corrupt and degenerate group of cowards I cannot imagine.
I'm glad to see Paulie K getting into the spirit of Irony with this op ed. He has really caught on to ZH way. And his sycophant flunkys too.
Can anyone tell the difference between Jim Kramer, Cosmo Kramer, or Paul Krugman?
LATE 2009
WOODS: Paul, I know you are a wise man, because you've said so. So I seek your advice.
KRUGMAN: Anything for you, Tiger.
WOODS: I've been cheating on my gorgeous wife for years, have slept with an array of hookers.
KRUGMAN: Wow, that must have been some FINE tail.
WOODS: It sure was. But my wife doesn't know about it. If I come clean with her, she'll dump me. My persona will be destroyed. My commercial sponsorships in jeopardy. My kids impacted. She'll clean me out. My life will be hell for a while. What should I do.
KRUGMAN: You can't tell her now, can't let her catch you. You've too much to lose. Keep seeing the hookers, keep living the lie, keep acting like superman, keep having it all. We'll ease you out of these bad habits over time, and eventually, all will be well, with no damage done, no implosion. Tiger, we'll kick the can down the road. It is the moral thing to do. Do it for the kids. Do it for the fans. Don't crush Elin. And do it for yourself Tiger. Get that incredible tail, like only you can Tiger. You can have it all, Tiger. Worry not.
WOODS: You're right, Paul! I love you man. You really ARE a friggin' genius. Uh, holy shit, where's my 'B' cell phone. Damn, I think I left it at home. Damn, damn, damn. Gotta run........................
You can't unfuck this. Its like a pregnant cockroach. The only way is to kill it before more are hatched.
krugman is a bush crime syndicate nazi masquerading as a rockefeller axis of evil muppet who is under cia mind control....
wow, you are really showing how deep you are in the mire of the NWO conspiracy cobweb theory.
Pax Americana cobweb according to you is so seemless and intricate it would make the Bayeux tapestry look like a feudal amateur joke; the Ardabil carpet of Iran a ham attempt at oriental design and the Vatican's frescos of Michael Angelo and Raphael wasted colour in creationist pantomimes.
Krugman's main argument is that WW2's massive govt spending on a wasteful war ....proves that massive govt spending no matter how wasteful one thinks it today...will still SAVE the economy. People call Krugman names or don't believe him...but I never hear anyone go into detail about WHAT A BAD ANALOGY Krugman is making.
USA was more like China in 1945 and more like an EU country or Japan today, enough so that the analogy should not be so casually made and accepted.
Note details of: savings rate, exports/imports, Real estate collapse vs Real estate healing period, peacetime size of govt and entitlements, real wage growth, personal debt, etc.
Globalized corporations is another huge difference, but this may be more a Bernanke issue of expensive stimulation of corporations & banks overseas than a fiscal topic about US govt spending.
Krugman is just a filthy progressive Keynesian. Death to Keynesianism.
Krugman should really stop taking CRAZY-PILLS!!!!
So, if the US can create money out of nothing at zero interest rates, why do Americans pay taxes?
Because prison sucks...
Someone should kick this derp in the nutsack.
Fuck you Mr Kotter.
Krugman is just a lightning rod, well paid i would say.
ps. there is no nobel prize for economics, go figure....
there is nothing to be done with golbalisation, populations moving up economically are using resources at a faster clip now. we need energy to keep productivity rising which is where wealth comes from. it isn't shale oil or tar sands. no replacement for the fossil fuels exists.
Krugman must be some Austrian economist sarcastic joke. I expect him to come out any moment now screaming 'HAHAHAHA fooled you all !!!'
Those Austrians sure have a good sense of humor. But seriously, thanks for the laugh Kruggy.
you mean the worst nightmare an Austrian could come with?
in defence of Krugman the NeoKeynesian: no defence from me
in defence of Krugman the Keynesian: it's part of (and consistent) of Keynesianism to advocate soft monetary policies and big state spending programs when the economy is in trouble. He is just admitting to the big shit by this. The only thing would be that Keynes advocated reduced spending and paying back debt during the "jolly good times" - and in this Krugman was not very consistent while he saw only limitless blue skies
so perhaps not a big defence, after all
I don't see a need to pay much attention to Krugman. Except for folks who are both marginally employable as well as unemployed, because for them, kicking the can means forever until you see a job come your way. For everyone else it's just the same old same old. No problem.
I actually thought it was a well written essay arguing that austerity should not take place NOW for the damage in the short-term it would cause the economy. My life is tough enough as it is. What is someone proposing we cut in the short-term that would not do damage to the economy in the short-run? Everyone rambles on about how we are skirting depression so if the line is so thin then why would this not be the trigger to throw us over into depression? Or is that the point?
DC,
Krugnuts writes well, I have to give him that. The problem I think most of us here have is we're drifting further and further from the concepts of independence and liberty that the country was founded on. Aside from the moral aspects of that, a government that is constantly filling the trough invariably produces a weak nation of mush-minded drones, whose "ambitions" are to borrow government money to get enough "education" to land either a government job or a high-paying job with a defense contractor so they can pay off their government-backed mortgage.
Ironically, these people will also bitch about taxes without realizing that they are not, in fact, taxpayers. They are parasites and every dollar they ever "earned" was actually a debt incurred by the next generation.
What Krugnuts suggests is, to me, that we're too out of shape to walk, so the government should drive us wherever we want to go. And in a few years he'll be arguing that we need a heart transplant...
I hope this makes sense. All this "government support" makes us weaker and stupider as a nation and sells our children into slavery. I want it to stop.
Well said!
That's the point. We REQUIRE a depression. I really don't know why so many people have so much trouble understanding that. WE'RE NOT SPECIAL. We will lose everything we have and suffer horribly, just like other human societies have lost everything and suffered horribly throughout history. Why would you think it's going to be ANY different for us? Why?
I ran into my old Econ professor in a grocery store last Friday. He is in his 80's now but still has a sharp mind, I advised him that I had turned my back on the Keysian theory he had taught me 40 years ago, that I thought "Keyesian theory was for the intellectually lazy and greedy".
I was suprised that he somewhat agreed with me.
But,but, but, didn;t Dick Chenney say deficits don;t matter???
Obviously the next bailout is already being
used by the present one.
http://www.marketwatch.com/story/no-money-down-home-loans-are-back-2013-...
Weird. Veritably weird.
I suppose that's supposed to be everyone's grandchildren
waking up in the morning, going to the bank, seeing they're
getting no interest, so mortgages can be extended to
unqualilfied buyers so that they can be shorted.
That's like the Easter Islanders not simply eating their
trees but incentivizing doing that. Maybe someone
then made out well and skipped to Ecuador.
The alternative to government as risk filter is empowerment,
education, bootstrap programs tied to direct support for
homeownership, health care rationalized economically and
clinically, and banking, ag, Wal Mart, energy-transportation,
etc. required to show public benefit and not allowed to
monopolistically destroy the American breadbasket, etc.
"There's no fiscal crisis because the CBO said so." This is exactly why the CBO needs blogs like ZH to be all over it. Krugman hides behind their shit forecasts and gets away with it because there's no one putting out real numbers to show how delusional the CBO's figures are. ZH has done more than anyone on this - whenever the forecasts come out, another one I remember that looked at the debt/interest rate link, and giving Lan Pham a platform last year when everyone else ignored her. So, job well done, but you guys should be on the CBO all the time - like white on rice and stink on shit. Here are two posts on the topic from a brand new site. Give CYNICONOMICS some love (or better, just have a quick look), they're on the same side:
http://www.cyniconomics.com/2013/02/09/seven-deadly-sins-of-the-government-debt-debate-2/
http://www.cyniconomics.com/2013/02/06/the-cbos-rules-for-economic-forecasting-a-primer/
Can somebody take that picture of the Krug and photoshop "FAIL" on his forehead??
As long as Paul is *in* the can; I have no problem with this....
Yeah fair enough to talk of the Congressional Budget Office's 10 year forecasts mate..... they have been soooooooooo accurate in the past.