By way of post-mortem of this afternoon's epic Paul vs Paul cage-match, we reflect on the various headlines the two gentlemen made during the event and in the context of the credibility with which one of the gentlemen discusses his ability to manage the world and the 'ease' with which he and his henchmen can control inflation (and that an unmanaged economy is subject to 'extreme volatility'), we remind readers of the post-WWII years and the extreme swings in purchasing power that their so-called managed economy created - a period which Krugman explicitly pointed out as golden years for the post-depressionary period.
Summarizing the words and thoughts of a megalomaniacal Keynesian dream-maker is hard but the following effluent effusive comments via Bloomberg will provide the much-needed color on this afternoon's Bloomberg TV appearance:
- *KRUGMAN SAYS FED SHOULD ACCEPT HIGHER RATE OF INFLATION
- *KRUGMAN: FED SHOULD KEEP RATES LOW UNTIL "WELL PAST" 2014
- *KRUGMAN SAYS INFLATION EASIER TO CONTROL THAN DEFLATION
- *KRUGMAN SAYS U.S. WOULD BE BETTER OFF WITH 4% INFLATION RATE
- *KRUGMAN: CONTINUED MASS UNEMPLOYMENT "RECKLESS". NOT INFLATION
- *KRUGMAN SAYS U.S. ECONOMY IS "PERSISTENTLY DEPRESSED"
- *KRUGMAN SEES "MASSIVE FAILURE" OF SYSTEM WITH 8% JOBLESS RATE
- *KRUGMAN SAYS "NO REASON TO PANIC" OVER U.S. DEBT NOW
- *KRUGMAN SAYS U.S. DEBT NOT "ANYWHERE CLOSE TO A RED LINE"
- *KRUGMAN SAYS SLASHING SPENDING MAKES DEBT PROBLEM WORSE
- *KRUGMAN SAYS UNMANAGED ECONOMY SUBJECT TO "EXTREME VOLATILITY"
US CPI in the 1940s...Zee Stabilitee
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And from the more open-minded of the two 'Pauls' - it appears his statements lie somewhere in the credible (and not at all psychotic and narcissistic) regions of the mind:
- *RON PAUL SAYS GOVERNMENTS AREN'T SUPPOSED TO RUN THE ECONOMY
- *RON PAUL SAYS `THE PEOPLE' ARE SUPPOSED TO RUN THE ECONOMY
- *RON PAUL: FED HAS DESTROYED 98% OF DOLLAR'S VALUE SINCE 1913
- *RON PAUL SAYS FED SHOULDN'T HAVE A MONOPOLY OF CURRENCY
and while he does note that:
- *PAUL SAYS FED IS LENDER OF LAST RESORT FOR POLITICIANS
he also adds more pragmatically that
- *RON PAUL SAYS WOULD BE "CHAOTIC" TO END THE FED RIGHT AWAY