Roger’s Rules

July 10th, 2009 4:54 am

Country not (quite) bankrupt yet. The Krugman solution: Spend More!

“Some of us.” Don’t you love that locution? Smug, cliquish, self-satisfied: it’s a perfect rhetorical gambit for “progressive” souls — you know, people who are just wee-bit smarter and emotionally attuned to the Zeitgeist than you or I. Take The New York Times columnist and Nobel Laureate Paul Krugman, for example. Writing in the former Paper of Record today, The New York Times columnist and Nobel Laureate Paul Krugman gazes over the economic landscape and announces that, even before Inauguration Day (of blessed memory), “some of us worried” that the stimulus plan Barack Obama (peace be unto him) proposed “would prove inadequate.” Almost a trillion dollars, but would it be enough? The New York Times columnist and Nobel Laureate Paul Krugman and his circle of enlightened friends had their doubts. And, deep thinkers that they are, they worried that “it might be hard, as a political matter, to come back for another round.”

You got that one right, Kemo Sabe! That sucking sound you hear all around you is the gas escaping from the Obama (peace, etc.,etc.) balloon as a public drunk on Hope and Change wake to find that the promised tax cuts, 3 million new jobs, and prosperity everywhere were nothing but starry-eyed campaign projections — or, to use the vernacular, lies.

obama_index_july_9_2009

The New York Times columnist and Nobel Laureate Paul Krugman asks how “concerned citizens” (i.e., resposible folk like him)

“should be reacting to the disappointing economic news. Should we be patient and give the Obama plan time to work? Should we call for bigger, bolder actions? Or should we declare the plan a failure and demand that the administration call the whole thing off?”

Whaddya’ think, Frank? Let’s see if you can guess what The New York Times columnist and Nobel Laureate Paul Krugman says. Everyone who thinks he says “declare the plan a failure and demand that the administration call the whole thing off” raise your hands. What, no takers?

You are clever, Dear Reader! You got it exactly right. The New York Times columnist and Nobel Laureate Paul Krugman, like the great Obama (peace &c.) know that there is still some money out there, and he wants to spend it all.

The New York Times columnist and Nobel Laureate Paul Krugman also knows, since he is not a lunatic, that resistance to mortgaging even more of the country’s future is rising, that it is going to be a very hard sell. But Obama (p., &c.) must gird up his loins and talk to the American people “like adults.” (Don’t you love that? Agree with The New York Times columnist and Nobel Laureate Paul Krugman and you’re an adult, otherwise . . .) We’ve already spent trillions. Quick! Before the bills come due, let’s spend a few trillion more and really get the socialist state going. Think it will be easy? Not if stories like this begin making the rounds: “Ninety Percent of Stimulus Funds Spent on Bailouts for State Governments.”

The study found that 90 percent of the stimulus funds spent so far have gone toward bailouts for fiscally irresponsible state governments. These states made commitments on health care and education spending commensurate to what they could afford during the boom years. When the economy crashed and tax revenues dried up, they had no way to pay for these commitments short of raising taxes, which none of them wanted to do. (Most states’ constitutions restrict their ability to run deficits.)

This is what the stimulus was really all about — not creating or “saving” jobs, but preventing states from suffering the consequences of their profligacy.

“The consequences of their profligacy.” Now there’s an interesting idea! What would the The New York Times columnist and Nobel Laureate Paul Krugman have to say about that?

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9 Comments

1. bibio44:

“Don’t you love that locution? Smug, cliquish, self-satisfied….”

Wow! Talk about glass houses!

Jul 10, 2009 - 9:37 am 2. Scott:

Mr Kimball,

You ought(see Hume’s ” is ought problem”) to be ashamed of yourself! Stop writing these silly essays and get out there and spend more money!!

Jul 10, 2009 - 9:39 am 3. Professor Guvinoff:

What is a prestigious New York Times columnist and Nobel Prize Recipient to do when his employer namufactured itself a one-way ticket for the financial underground?

By the way, you get a pHD, you write books, you get a NYT tenure, a Nobel Prize, and after all that you still need an employer? If you know everything to be known on matters of economy, couldn’t you start a business and create some jobs? But I digress, I digress…

Back to the original question, what to do when ordinary fame and run-of-the-mill recognition is no longer enough to satisfy the demands of your ego? It’s not that hard, really: Look at Al Gore: Become a prophet! That was good enough as a consolation for not having gotten the presidency, could it possibly be good enough for you, Mr. Krugman?

Jul 10, 2009 - 2:48 pm 4. Chip:

Since we’re well across the line where our friends (thank you China and Japan) are inevitably going to pay for Obma’s spending, why not forge ahead and saddle them with even more worthless dollars. It isn’t as though our kids are going to pay. So I agree with Kurgman in saying, “keep spending until our bonds just won’t sell anymore.”

Jul 10, 2009 - 3:46 pm 5. LOLLIPOP:

A-Tisket A- Tasket
————————-

I’m trying to think of something clever to say regarding “The New York Times columnist and Nobel Laureate Paul Krugman”, but I can’t.

The substance and the mold that I have to work with are so vacuous, my brain enters a stage of aphasia which I cannot shake. It’s like trying to say something of substance about Maureen Dowd, but if you start with a zero, there’s not much you can say.

Still, I’ll attempt a ‘mot’ or two.

Whatever one might say about the BBC, it is light-years more sophisticated than CNN. Some of you may find that hard to swallow, but believe me, from my foreign aerie where I usually dwell, this is patently clear.

One of the BBC’s best programs is called “HARD TALK” in which the BBC host asks relatively tough questions of its guests. I don’t know if you can get it in the States – I imagine you can if you have the right “software”, but it’s good.

Couple of months back, I turned it on and guess who the guest was. Paul Krugman. I didn’t know whether to turn the TV off, go get a stiff drink or write a letter of complaint. I settled for watching the entire half hour program.

Now, honestly, I can’t say I remember what was discussed. Something about the “economy” no doubt.

But what sticks in my mind is “The New York Times columnist and Nobel Laureate Paul Krugman” and his shoes.

The man was sitting crossed legged on his stool and for the entire program, HE WAS PICKING AT HIS SHOES with his right-hand fingers. I don’t mean the top of the shoes or the shoe laces. No. He was picking at the SOLES of his shoe. You know, the bottom part . Picking and picking away like a 2 year old trying to get some gum unstuck or like someone desperately picking his nose.

Not once or twice, but constantly.

Even the host noticed this ludicrous psychological tick and was sort of smiling to himself, no doubt hugely embarrassed for P.K.

At the end of the program, the two men shook hands and guess which hand Krugman extended to the host. Poor host. I hope he had a bottle of germ-killer liquid around.

In addition, Krugman’s demeanor reflected beautifully this sort of silly pose that appears to have become popular in the last couple of years with public figures: that is, trying to imitate the gestures, facial expressions and hairdo of a 13 year old boy.

I call it the Peter Pan Syndrome – it’s quite popular among “Film critics”, but others have now taken it up. It also very often affects their verbal delivery…a kind of superficial “stream of consciousness” and innocence that might be beguiling in a 13 year old but which is risible in anyone like Krugman….way past puberty and approaching senility.

(By the way, when I get back to the US in the summer, I usually visit my local Barnes and Noble store, though I’m somewhat ashamed to admit it. Still…….

Well, one of the first tomes I ran across this summer, staring me right in the face was M. Dowd’s “Are Men Necessary?” of a few years back. It’s still on the shelves although now priced at around $6.00. {It should have been priced at 6 cents when it first came out}.

Krugman and Dowd ! What a way to start a summer.

Jul 10, 2009 - 6:55 pm 6. David W. Lincoln:

Throwing more money at any problem has yet to solve anything, especially when the design flaw(s) of the problem is/(are) not dealt with.

Will the likes of Krugman accept this? Maybe, but that will likely be the day the sun rises in the North.

Jul 12, 2009 - 7:22 pm 7. Thalpy:

When I think of Krugman, I recognize his accomplishment. He can’t possibly be a stupid man, so what is he?

In the sport of baseball they say that you are only as good as your last “at bat.” How’s Krugman doing?

Jul 13, 2009 - 10:27 am 8. LOLLIPOP (cont):

“….A GREEN AND YELLOW BASKET.”
——————————–

I couldn’t find a video of the HARDTALK interview with Paul Krugman that I mentioned above. However………

Here are a couple of youtube interviews that are worth watching featuring P.K.

The first one is quite short if you’re pressed for time…the second one a little longer.

It’s truly embarrassing to watch this fraud in action. He simply doesn’t know what he’s talking about. How can people listen to him without gaffawing him out of the lecture hall?

It’s all these disconnected sentences peppered with tennage verbiage such as: “cuz……ya,ok…..you know….” etc.

A classic example of the Peter Pan Syndrome.
It’s like a high school sophomore talking for the first time in public.

Can anyone tell me what he really said in either interview?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qckyUhjjJQA&feature=fvst

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_znvpApOcb4

Jul 13, 2009 - 4:36 pm 9. LOLLIPOP (3):

Paul Krugman Nobel Prize News Conference
————————————

Just one more item featuring P. Krugman.

In this video, “The New York Times columnist and Nobel Laureate Paul Krugman” walks onto the stage WEARING A BACK-PACK !! Your heard me right – a back-pack. Just watch it if you don’t believe me.

No doubt, he’s attempting to portray himself as just a humble ‘I’m one of you guys’ type person.

People eat it up, though.

This outlandish scene comes at the beginning of this long video so you can just watch his entrance and then forget about it, although it’s worth continuing for a couple of more minutes as “The New York Times columnist and Nobel Laureate Paul Krugman” is introduced. He looks like he’s lost or thinking to himself: “What am I doing here?”

Good question

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tx6UJ-3oV_w

Jul 13, 2009 - 4:53 pm