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August 3, 2002
Confusing politics & economics
Paul Krugman continues to play Democratic shill in the NYT's. Nowhere is it more obvious then in this latest editorial where he mixes up economics and politics. His piece starts out making the case for a double dip recession but quickly slides into a rant against those, such as Alan Greenspan, who are optimistic:
Bear in mind also that government officials have a stake in accentuating the positive. The administration needs a recovery because, with deficits exploding, the only way it can justify that tax cut is by pretending that it was just what the economy needed. Mr. Greenspan needs one to avoid awkward questions about his own role in creating the stock market bubble.He chides Wall Street, the Fed, and the administration for wishful thinking, but it's pretty obvious that Krugman is the one engaging in wishful thinking. Krugman consistently, unrelentingly writes anti-Bush editorials, and his zeal is unmistakeable: even though he mentions no Bush official, or indeed Bush himself, nor explains how any Bush policy will contribute to he "double dip" note the title of his column: "Dubya's Double Dip?" This isn't economics, this is a Democratic economist's version of a pre-emptive strike--trying to pin something that hasn't happened on a President through guilt by association. I'd take his economics more seriously if they weren't so obviously motivated by hostility to anything Bush--including the economy itself during his administration. Give us a break, Paul.
How the mighty have fallen. A once-respected economist, Krugman has truly lost it. His bile churns loudly in every column, and he has become sadly predictable and easy to ignore.
Did I miss something? Did grass stop growing, fruit stop ripening on the trees, the combustion engine stop working? Forgive my optimistic views, but how much different is life now than what we experienced a couple years ago? Maybe we now perform detailed research before purchasing decisions, maybe we’re more frugal in our product forecasting, maybe we think twice before super-sizing our fries. But life still moves forward. Technology is still exciting. Look at it this way: fewer dumb ideas are getting funding – which is a good thing. Too many poorly planned business plans got past us, and we’re now reaping what we’ve sewn. But here’s my optimistic view – anything that we build in this tight economy will be stronger, and will last longer. And we’ll be stronger and better prepared to weather the next storm. You just have to keep working at it. Frankly, I don’t see why people like Mr. Krugman don’t just slash their wrists and be done with it. For the rest of us, we'll tighten our belts, apply a healthy dose of sunscreen, and get back in the trenches to work…