Krugman: 'GOP Wants to Build Bridge to 19th Century' - By Trying to Prevent Inflation?
Former House Majority Leader Dick Armey said Monday that MSNBC's Chris Matthews is slipping out of touch with reality.
After reading New York Times columnist Paul Krugman's idiotic piece Friday, I think the same can be said of him:
We’ve always known that the modern G.O.P. wants to take America back to the way it was before the New Deal; but now it’s clear that the party wants to build a bridge to the 19th century, and maybe even to the antebellum era.
For those not familiar with the term, the Antebellum Era in American history is pre-Civil War. Why does Krugman believe that's what Republicans want to return to?
Because fiscally-minded conservatives such as Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wisc) are concerned that the explosion in spending and debt in the past few years as well as in the foreseeable future are going to devalue the dollar and lead to serious inflation.
Trying to dispel this notion, Krugman observed that this isn't a problem yet. Inflation by most measures remains tame largely because of the struggling economy.
But leading indicators such as gold and silver are screaming with the former having risen from roughly $900 per ounce three years ago to over $1400 just last month, and the latter going from $16 to $30 in the same period.
Does this mean inflation's on the way? Not necessarily, but Krugman in his piece demonstrated an inconsistency on this issue:
The dollar’s value in terms of other major currencies is about the same now as it was three years ago.
For the most part, he's right. However, three years ago with the dollar basically at the same level it is today, and maybe most importantly a Republican in the White House, Krugman was quite concerned about inflation. Here's what he wrote on November 26, 2007:
“Americans’ Economic Pessimism Reaches Record High.” That’s the headline on a recent Gallup report, which shows a nation deeply unhappy with the state of the economy. Right now, “27% of Americans rate current economic conditions as either ‘excellent’ or ‘good,’ while 44% say they are ‘only fair’ and 28% say they are poor.” Moreover, “an extraordinary 78% of Americans now say the economy is getting worse, while a scant 13% say it is getting better.”
What’s really remarkable about this dismal outlook is that the economy isn’t (yet?) in recession, and consumers haven’t yet felt the full effects of $98 oil (wait until they see this winter’s heating bills) or the plunging dollar, which will raise the prices of imported goods. [...]
Today, by contrast, wage gains for most workers are being swallowed by inflation. In fact, the reality for lower- and middle-income workers may be worse than the official statistics say, because the prices of necessities like food, transportation and medical care are rising considerably faster than the Consumer Price Index as a whole. One striking statistic: the cost of a traditional Thanksgiving turkey dinner was 11 percent higher this year than last year.
So, roughly three years ago, with the dollar at virtually the same level as it is today, Krugman was very concerned about inflation.
Now, with Obama in the White House, and the total outstanding debt having risen by $5 trillion or 56 percent since Krugman wrote that piece in 2007, he is not only not concerned about inflation, but wants the federal government to spend even more money and create even more debt.
Interesting hypocrisy, wouldn't you agree?
So too is that just four days ago, Krugman claimed that soaring food prices caused by global warming were to blame for the political crisis in Egypt.
Again, in fairness, he said such commodity inflation is yet to hit America, but commodity prices are indeed on the rise in America with the Commodity Research Bureau index now back above its pre-2008 financial crisis peak.
With this in mind, are Republicans like Ryan building a bridge to the 19th century or wisely trying to stop the construction of one to 1970s hyperinflation?
One gets the feeling that if Ryan was a Democrat and Obama a Republican, Krugman would choose the latter?
- Noel Sheppard's blog
- Login to post comments
Comments
bridge to the 19th century,
Submitted by CarlosS on Fri, 02/11/2011 - 11:42am.
Sort of like trying to "Sieze the Future" with 19th century railroad infrastructure
Don’t forget windmills,
Submitted by Reaver on Fri, 02/11/2011 - 5:35pm.
Don’t forget windmills, another nineteenth century technology that the left just loves. Remind me again, who wants to turn back the clock to the nineteenth century?Exactly who takes him seriously anymore?
Submitted by JohnMcGrew on Fri, 02/11/2011 - 11:46am.
In his efforts to shill for Obama, he even contradicts his own textbooks. I can't wait to see what he says when inflation finally does kick in here, which it will once the economy attempts to move again and we get to reap the consequenses of the last two years of spending on bogus "stimulus" and QE2. (What does he really think the run-up in commodities and the stock market really are about? It's certainly not about foreseeable economic growth!)
It's certainly not the GOP that's going to take us back to the Antebellum age. It's actually the stated agenda of the far eco-left, and the inevitable result of the global warm-monger CO2 nonsense.
Inflation
Submitted by JLin on Fri, 02/11/2011 - 12:03pm.
Commodities are a hedge against inflation are they not? When markets fear it, they run to indispensable tangible assets.
when it does kick in
Submitted by dirtydan64 on Fri, 02/11/2011 - 1:41pm.
Obama and his Cheerleaders wil do a flip flop like non other and it will be one that is done in the blink of an eye and of course they are also going to deny everything they've said up to the point of no return when it does hit the fan ?? it's not a matter of if, it's a matter of when. with Obama instructing his fiat regulation via the EPA to basically shut down the Coal Industry, and soon the NG and other evil fossil fuels to leave this country high & dry with us and Mother Nature using just wind & solar to power all those mighty electric cars and a junk yard full of SUV's, Truck's and other gas gusslers Obama and Krugman will be wise to find a place to run and hide when there time comes just like Mubarak times to exile has come. IMO there no different from one another !!!Nobody does to answer your
Submitted by Free Thinker on Fri, 02/11/2011 - 1:48pm.
Nobody does to answer your question. He is a man with too much pride to just say he was wrong. If he can't admit that than he should really just quietly disappear. Instead he keeps spouting off to the point that now he is viewed as a crazy fool in economist circles. It is quite embarrassing to see.
It's not "pride"...
Submitted by JohnMcGrew on Fri, 02/11/2011 - 3:39pm.
...but "intellectual dishonesty". He doesn't see himself as "right" or "wrong". He's just sold his acedemic integrity to be a high-profile cog in the progressive propaganda machine.
This is a head-banging moment for sure.
Submitted by JLin on Fri, 02/11/2011 - 11:48am.
I ask once again, did he really win the Nobel prize for economics or did that come to me in a nightmare?
He did!
Submitted by Morganfrost on Fri, 02/11/2011 - 12:54pm.
And Yasser Arafat won the Nobel Peace Prize, so, whatever else you can say, at least there's a theme.
Along the same lines, maybe if you could invent a drug that purports to cure cancer, but instead merely causes vomiting, seizures, loss of bladder control, and finally paralysis, you could pick up a Nobel Prize for medicine!
JL , he did indeed win it but
Submitted by inquiringmind on Fri, 02/11/2011 - 2:47pm.
JL , he did indeed win it but I have said before that someone needs to do a re-read of his thesis. No one can be this stupid and win the Nobel.
Unless you are referring to Arafat, and Obama.
Krugman the Kommie....
Submitted by adamsmith on Fri, 02/11/2011 - 11:49am.
If this guy had been my economics professor in college, I would be suing his ass off. He's like a weatherman on TV, he's got a 50/50 shot of making the right call and is usually 100% wrong. He's a Keysian idiot, who can't handle the common sense of supply and demand. Another overeducated moron....He's one of those lazy ass "liberals"(communists) who doesn't bathe enough to get rid of the stink of food rotting in that nasty ass Commie beard. He's a communist midget, both physically and mentally.
Rulers
Submitted by JLin on Fri, 02/11/2011 - 12:00pm.
Like all committed Marxists, Krugman views himself as a part of the ruling class. We minions of the masses must comply with their edicts and endure their rule. It must gall them to have to actually present a cogent argument and speak to us at all. The 1950s and 1960s were their heyday when they were the toast of all the DC cocktail set. The Jimmah Cawtuh years brought that all down to earth.
Interesting
Submitted by JustAl on Fri, 02/11/2011 - 11:51am.
Weren't communism and it's step child progresivism both 19th century political philosophies?
Correctomundo
Submitted by JLin on Fri, 02/11/2011 - 11:54am.
... and debunked before we made it to the 20th century. But the Socialists did a Dr. Frankenstein on it. "It's alive. It's alive!"
1970s hyper inflation...
Submitted by JLin on Fri, 02/11/2011 - 11:52am.
Courtesy, by the way, of the Democrats and their Great Society initiatives. Soon to be followed by the CRI, FANNIE, FREDDIE, and the Democrat driven sub-prime meltdown. The hits just keep on coming. Stay tuned for the Democat's latest: Obamapalooza - The Great Implosion.
Krugman thinks of economic development in terms . . .
Submitted by Galvanic on Fri, 02/11/2011 - 12:06pm.
. . . of Five-Year Plans and artificially-under-valued currencies. It's in his philosophical nature.
The "liberals"
Submitted by iveseenitall on Fri, 02/11/2011 - 12:27pm.
Krugman is simply one of the legions of "liberals" who continue to bring our way of life to its knees. They are absolutely, postively ANTI-AMERICAN. All my life I have gone to schools with, worked with-- suffered these ideologues who take no responstibilty for their assinine philosophy. Communism doesn't work, Krugie. History proves it, over and over again. But there is still hope for our nation. Americans are finally waking up, rubbing their eyes and seeing what is in front of them --in the media, in education and in so many facets of their daily lives. Soon no one, except maybe college students and "journalists", will be listening to, much less believing, jerks like this.
P.S. Watch Egypt. We are far from that right now. But the "rule of the few over the many" is becoming clearer here day by day. The corruption in our government is being covered up by our "free" press, but the internet is changing everything.
NEVER,NEVER trust a "liberal"(progressive)
Great post! "But the "rule of
Submitted by MaximusBraveheart on Fri, 02/11/2011 - 1:17pm.
Great post! "But the "rule of the few over the many" is becoming clearer here day by day. The corruption in our government is being covered up by our "free" press, but the internet is changing everything."
The government MUST not be allowed to have any control of the internet!-- Maximusbraveheart -- Is TRUTH knowable? Moral Relativism is the abandonment of Truth. Truth is knowable. Truth conforms to Reality. Reality is observable by evidence & witness in this day & from history. Relativism is Sesame Street play land.
1. Lincoln was a Republican,
Submitted by Edhenry on Fri, 02/11/2011 - 12:23pm.
1. Lincoln was a Republican, while the democrats became the anti-black party. (then with rope, later with the sherrifs and dogs in southern states, and now they destroy the black community through liberal policies)
2. Deficits matter - to national security, jobs and inflation. But if you dont care about those issues, spend away!
Yes, because inflation is a
Submitted by wiwf on Fri, 02/11/2011 - 12:35pm.
Yes, because inflation is a good thing...
We need to further cut the
Submitted by MaximusBraveheart on Fri, 02/11/2011 - 1:13pm.
We need to further cut the cash-flow off to these Country damaging Socialists! What are all the sources of income he has so we can NOT buy from his 'sponsors?"
-- Maximusbraveheart -- Is TRUTH knowable? Moral Relativism is the abandonment of Truth. Truth is knowable. Truth conforms to Reality. Reality is observable by evidence & witness in this day & from history. Relativism is Sesame Street play land.
We haven't seen anthing yet
Submitted by FastEd on Fri, 02/11/2011 - 1:39pm.
The IMF wast to drop the dollar as the reserve currency, countries and states are spending more than they have, we're creating food shortages by using corn for a very inefficient fuel, our employment rate is near 20% and growing, we follow the EPA and envirnomental wakos to the doom of our economy and culture, and our self sufficent(sic) fuld situation is going no where, 'cause we allow stupid people run (runi) our lives.
"We the People . . " Hey, congress - I'm one of the people - start listening!
There is no sense in being stupid, if you can't prove it! - my dad V
That's it
Submitted by donabernathy on Fri, 02/11/2011 - 3:24pm.
I'm off to da supermarket...and ain't come'n back till I get one O dem Nobel's from a Cracker Jack's Box.
roflmao
Wow, talk about your classic
Submitted by dscott on Fri, 02/11/2011 - 6:38pm.
Wow, talk about your classic case of Projection by Krugman. This is the loon who advocated green initiatives designed to reduce our cummulative CO2 emissions of 300 million plus people back to 1990 levels, i.e. pre industrial revolution rates on a per person level... and he's talking about a bridge to the 19th century???? That is some mental summersault!