Monday, January 10, 2011

Krugman's Climate of Hypocrisy

January 9, 2011
Paul Krugman: Climate of Hate

But even if hate is what many want to hear, that doesn’t excuse those who pander to that desire. They should be shunned by all decent people.

Can we assume that Paul Krugman has shunned President Obama?

June 14, 2008
Obama brings a gun to a knife fight

“If they bring a knife to the fight, we bring a gun,” Obama said in Philadelphia last night. “Because from what I understand, folks in Philly like a good brawl. I’ve seen Eagles fans.”

For the record, I'm not a fan of Republican Glenn Beck or Democrat Paul Krugman. I think both manage to create a climate of hate. I am not a fan of extremism.

It is my opinion that our country would be far better off with more
moderates and less polarization.

January 11, 2011
Paul Krugman Incites Hatred (and Ignores His Own Rhetoric)

It is one thing for political hacks like Olbermann or Beck or even the people at the Daily Kos to frame everything that happens in political terms and ignore pertinent facts. I expect that kind of behavior from them.

However, when a decorated academic economist does the same – and calls it careful analysis – I draw the line. I NEVER have seen or heard hateful rhetoric coming from other Nobel Prize winning economists, ever, and I have spent hours with many of them. Yet, with Paul Krugman, it seems that all we get is hate and name-calling and political talking points. I will let you be the judge of that kind of behavior.


I could not agree more.

18 comments:

dearieme said...

I worked for many years in academic life, where people are perhaps too prone to diagnose that Old Jones Is Going Potty. But I'd bet that my academic chums would diagnose Krugman that way.

mab said...

Can't we all just get a loan?

Stagflationary Mark said...

dearieme,

I have never heard of "Old Jones Is Going Potty" but if that is indeed the diagnosis then one can only imagine what the disease must be!

There I go breeding hate on my blog again. Shame on me, lol.

mab,

"Can't we all just get a loan?"

The "climate of hate" can provide all the debt we could ever desire (and then some).

AllanF said...

FWIW, Steve Sailer's been pretty good contrasting the media's handling of this nut versus their handling of other nuts.

He's especially taking to task Carlos Slim's paper of record.

Stagflationary Mark said...

AllanF,

I read a bit of Steve Sailer today. I found his commentary interesting.

August 26, 2005
Paul Krugman punts on the I-Word again

Many despise Paul Krugman, the famous economist-turned-NYT-op-edster, for his fanatical hatred of George W. Bush...

I was not a fan of Bush. I voted for "anyone but Bush" in 2004. You'd think that would make me love Krugman. I don't.

Amusingly, the extremely low interest rates that are propping up the economy today are causing a boom in home construction in the exurbs (i.e., creating more of the exurban sprawl that Krugman derides). While the home construction boom is doing nothing to help us compete better economically with the Chinese...

I've stated that myself since turning bearish in 2004.

September 6, 2009
How Krugman got it wrong

Krugman, for example, totally ignores inconvenient realities, such as the bipartisan push by politicians for more mortgage lending to minorities, which played such a huge role in the mortgage meltdown that launched the recession.

July 3, 2007
Bill Gates no longer world's richest man

Considering that most of Slim's wealth comes from operations within Mexico, while Gates extracts money from around the world, and the Mexican economy is only 1/11th as big as America's, then Slim piling up a nest egg equivalent to $3,000 per family of five in Mexico is quite a feat.

Stagflationary Mark said...

For the record, perhaps I should state my immigration beliefs.

Immigrants claim pivotal role in economy

Wednesday, President Bush urged the Senate to endorse his guest worker proposal, saying: "There are people here working hard for jobs Americans won't do."

That is such BS.

Supply and demand dictates that there would be a line of workers to clean toilets if the pay for cleaning toilets was raised enough. We do not have a shortage of workers (especially right now).

What is really being said here is that we do not wish to pay people to clean toilets for even the tiniest fraction of what CEOs get paid. Heaven forbid that was to happen. *sarcastic eye roll*

watchtower said...

Religion?

Politics?

The Rubicon has been crossed!

: )

Stagflationary Mark said...

watchtower,

The Rubicon has been crossed!

One must not mention the Rubicon which must not be named unless the S&P 500 hits 1200 again.

No Rubicon. No speaking of Rubicon. There is no Rubicon to see here. Rubicon must not be mentioned.

Oh crap. What did I just summon? I didn't prepare for this. The sacred candles were not lit. The pentagram was not properly positioned.

Sears expects 4Q, full-year earnings to top Street

Fantastic news. Couldn't be better. Stock rose 6.3% today.

Sears, based in Hoffman Estates, Ill., said revenue at stores open at least a year dipped 1.7 percent in December. This figure is a key gauge of a retailer's health because it excludes sales at stores that opened or closed in the past year.

Heatlh, schmealth. Who needs it? This is the new and improved economy.

G.H. said...

"Religion?
Politics?
The Rubicon has been crossed!"


Illusion Of Prosperity "going rogue"!?

Next thing you know, the trend lines on Stagflationary Marks' charts will quit half way through!!

AllanF said...

Hello? Economics is politics.

Fannie & Freddie: politics
Labor supply curve: politics
Tax rates & policy: politics
Corporate breaks & bail-outs: politics
Duplicitousness of Paul Krugman: not politics
Financial rape of the middle class by Wall Street: politics

G.H. said...

Economics and Politics by Paul Krugman - Geography Lessons

"First they told us that Ireland wasn’t Greece; then they told us that Portugal wasn’t Ireland; now they’re telling us that Spain isn’t Greece, Ireland, or Portugal..."

dearieme said...

Golly, next they'll tell us that Tucson isn't the Reichstag Fire.

Stagflationary Mark said...

G.H.,

Illusion Of Prosperity "going rogue"!?

In an anagram world...

"going rogue" = "ore gouging"

Bubble! ;)

Stagflationary Mark said...

AllanF,

Hello? Economics is politics.

Religion is politics!

That means:

Economics = Religion!

The math all makes sense now, lol. Sigh.

Stagflationary Mark said...

dearieme,

Reichstag fire

The event is seen as pivotal in the establishment of Nazi Germany.

This "climate of hate" must end! Quick! Someone write their Senator and demand another Patriot Act!

Narrator: A hush of silent sarcasm fell over the blog as visitors quietly moved towards the exits.

watchtower said...

@ AllenF

Obviously economics is political.

It's just that Mark had mentioned God in the post before and Obama in this post, and I was just referring to the old axiom of not mentioning 'religion and politics' as a way of humor...and I apparently failed.

All in all it was just a 'shout out' to Mark to show that I enjoy reading his stuff and hope he continues.

AllanF said...

watchtower, OK my bad.

Stagflationary Mark said...

watchtower,

...and I was just referring to the old axiom of not mentioning 'religion and politics' as a way of humor...

So I guess the rule should be that if you MUST place a poster of Sarah Palin at the entrance to your business then at least put up a poster of the Last Temptation of Christ too. That way you can keep everyone happy, lol. ;)