Paul Krugman Calls for Space Aliens to Attack Earth Requiring Massive Defense Buildup to Stimulate Economy
Oh those whacky liberals.
On Sunday's "Fareed Zakaria GPS," New York Times columnist - and, ahem, Nobel laureate - Paul Krugman actually advocated space aliens attack earth thereby requiring a massive defense buildup by the United States that would stimulate the economy (video follows with transcript and commentary):
KENNETH ROGOFF, PROFESSOR OF ECONOMICS, HARVARD UNIVERSITY: Infrastructure spending, if it were well-spent, that's great. I'm all for that. I'd borrow for that, assuming we're not paying Boston Big Dig kind of prices for the infrastructure.
FAREED ZAKARIA, HOST: But even if you were, wouldn't John Maynard Keynes say that if you could employ people to dig a ditch and then fill it up again, that's fine, they're being productively employed, they'd pay taxes, so maybe Boston's Big Dig was just fine after all.
Oh those whacky liberals.
So in Zakaria's view, the government employing people to do absolutely nothing of value would fix the economy.
If this is the case, why doesn't the government just give money to everyone? The economy, in Zakaria's opinion, would therefore grow at a record pace.
Of course, anyone with even a rudimentary understanding of arithmetic could figure out that the amount received in tax receipts would be far less than what was distributed thereby exploding the nation's debt level in a never-ending spiral that would eventually lead to default.
Surely, the credit rating agencies wouldn't be pleased with this.
On the other hand, isn't it fascinating that a man that is always opposed to tax cuts - which is government allowing people to keep more of THEIR money - and doesn't think that stimulates the economy believes it would be economically stimulative to give people someone else's money to do absolutely nothing?
Only a liberal could think this way.
But hold on to your seats, because a man possessing a Nobel prize in economics was cued up to say something even more absurd:
PAUL KRUGMAN, NEW YORK TIMES: Think about World War II, right? That was actually negative social product spending, and yet it brought us out.
I mean, probably because you want to put these things together, if we say, "Look, we could use some inflation." Ken and I are both saying that, which is, of course, anathema to a lot of people in Washington but is, in fact, what fhe basic logic says.
It's very hard to get inflation in a depressed economy. But if you had a program of government spending plus an expansionary policy by the Fed, you could get that. So, if you think about using all of these things together, you could accomplish, you know, a great deal.
If we discovered that, you know, space aliens were planning to attack and we needed a massive buildup to counter the space alien threat and really inflation and budget deficits took secondary place to that, this slump would be over in 18 months. And then if we discovered, oops, we made a mistake, there aren't any aliens, we'd be better –
ROGOFF: And we need Orson Welles, is what you're saying.
KRUGMAN
: No, there was a "Twilight Zone" episode like this in which scientists fake an alien threat in order to achieve world peace. Well, this time, we don't need it, we need it in order to get some fiscal stimulus.
Oh those whacky liberals.
There's so much in this that it's tough to know where to begin, so let's start with this being another admission by Krugman that it wasn't Franklin Delano Roosevelt's massive New Deal spending that ended the Depression.
Much as he did on ABC's "This Week" in November 2008, the Nobel laureate once again dispelled that liberal myth.
I wonder if the Keynes-loving Zakaria was paying attention.
But more importantly, let's look at the numbers involved to really get a sense of what Krugman advocated here.
The money unsuccessfully thrown at the Depression prior to World War II was staggering. From 1929 to 1939, government spending tripled from $3 billion a year to $9 billion.
And yet unemployment at the end of 1939 was still 17.2 percent.
Not a very good advertisement for Keynesian economics, is it?
Now imagine that kind of "stimulus" today. That would mean the current $3.8 trillion budget would have to rise to $11.4 trillion which would generate about $9 trillion of debt a year.
What do you think would happen to our credit rating and our dollar then? Wouldn't be pretty, would it?
Yet that didn't work in the '30s - a fact that most liberals other than Krugman still contest - so the Nobel laureate is advocating that we spend like we're being attacked by space aliens in order to get to the level of outlays during World War II.
Total federal spending in 1940 was $9.5 billion. By 1945, this had risen almost tenfold to $93 billion.
Such an increase in today's budget would create a deficit greater than $30 trillion per year making our dollar and our Treasuries totally worthless.
Did I mention Krugman once won a Nobel prize in economics?
Consider too that the lasting stimulative quality of even the World War II spending is up for debate.
The National Bureau of Economic Research lists a recession that began in February 1945 that lasted until October of that year. This recession happened despite the federal government spending almost ten times as much as it had only five years prior and 30 times more than in 1929.
Once again, not a very good advertisement for Keynesian economics.
But let's take this a step further, for NBER's recession numbers might be too conservative. According to the Bureau of Economic Analysis, the Gross Domestic Product shrank by 1.1 percent in 1945, a staggering 10.9 percent in 1946, and 0.9 percent in 1947.
Again, this was after the largest explosion in federal spending in our nation's history, and this is what Krugman is advocating we repeat.
Makes you wonder if space aliens have already arrived and they're residing inside this liberal Nobel laureate's head.
- Noel Sheppard's blog
- Login to post comments
Comments
If space aliens did attack,
Submitted by Jack Bauer on Sun, 08/14/2011 - 10:53am.
If space aliens did attack, I'm sure the first thing the DEMOCRATS would do is register them to vote for Obama in 2012...
Then there'd be calls from PELOSI and REID for an ALIEN amnesty -- to, uh, BRING THEM OUT OF THE SHADOWS, with their death rays.
"The space alien WAR is Lost!!" Harry Reid.
"The greatest threat to the planet is not space aliens bent on world domination and the total extermination of the human race , but the TEA PARTY and their crazy ideas on lower taxes" Nancy Pelosi.
All of the above Mr Obama? --- How about ALL OF THE BELOW, instead.
"The space alien WAR is Lost!!" Harry Reid. (ROFLMAO)…
Submitted by Grumpy in Arizona on Sun, 08/14/2011 - 10:55am.
… I can just hear him saying that!
But Krugman is completely wrong in one respect… Space aliens have already taken over the bodies of Ron Paul and his minions!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JRVfGMjdGh8&feature=related
- Grump :o)
They're already here...
Submitted by tvhall on Sun, 08/14/2011 - 10:30pm.
It was a body snatcher invasion. All liberals and democrats are the victims!
Space aliens?
Submitted by Dave81 on Mon, 08/15/2011 - 2:39pm.
Space aliens?? Why do we need space aliens to attack to build up our military budget? Can't we just spend more on the 3 wars we're currently envolved in? How wait, when we're funding the millitary to fight REAL threats, we're just wasting money that could go to paying people to dig ditches and then fill them back in. I guess military spending only makes sense when it's a hypothetical threat.
Don't dismiss Krugman.....
Submitted by notinstl on Sun, 08/14/2011 - 10:52am.
.....he may be the first alien to arrive
V... peel back Krugman's
Submitted by Jack Bauer on Sun, 08/14/2011 - 10:57am.
V... peel back Krugman's beard to reveal the SPACE LIZARD beneath!
All of the above Mr Obama? --- How about ALL OF THE BELOW, instead.
If he was serious...
Submitted by zenman1661 on Sun, 08/14/2011 - 10:57am.
Then this proves once and for all what an intellectual economic fraud he is. This is nothing more than a sci-fi version of the false economic parable of how a broken window creates prosperity in a small village. What liberals never understand is that its not about just spending money, its on what the money is spent on. Is it just giving someone a fish or does it teach someone how to fish type of spending. Does it just give some one a job or does it create or revitalize a business or industry that will be self sustaining and will even grow. Its just like that second military jet engine. Sure it would create jobs, but if you're going to spend a lot of tax money on employment shouldn't it be used to create something really useful and needed.
Yes, the secret of prosperity
Submitted by robert108 on Sun, 08/14/2011 - 1:03pm.
Yes, the secret of prosperity is the creation of value, not just empty work. That's from Marx's labor theory of value, which is bunk.
Fareed's idot comment
Submitted by ferv888 on Sun, 08/14/2011 - 9:29pm.
The really telling line for me was the idiot host saying that digging a ditch and filling it back up was productive work. That is what liberals have come to, make work projects that move society no further ahead, in fact make it go backwards, as they call this productive.
FERV888
MIssing the Point
Submitted by Wildcatter1980 on Mon, 08/15/2011 - 10:58am.
What Krugman is looking for is a "crisis" that liberal secular progressives can use as a way to rally people behind them. Woodrow Wilson used World War I to invoke his "war socialism." FDR used the Great Depression and more so World War II in a similar fashion. LBJ used JFK's assassination to his own and liberal secular progressive's ends--the Great Society policy to name one. And, Obama has tried to use the housing/mortgage market bubble burst similarly. (Recall Rahm Emanuel stating that a good crisis should not be allowed to go to waste?)
Also, why do you think liberal secular progressives use canards like anthropogenic global warming and millions of people not having medical insurance as they do? (Yes, I know many people who want it do not have medical coverage, but the liberal secular progressives blithely ignore those who choose not to have it when compiling their estimates.)
What liberal secular progressives try to do is find some "crisis" that they can get people to focus on so that the people's attention is not on what the liberal secular progressives are actually doing. Krugman is looking for a new "crisis" because too many people no longer see global warming as a crisis, see that Obamacare is not what was promised and that Obama and the democrats are making the economy worse, not better as they promised, as well.
--
If you want to know what liberal secular progressives are really doing, just listen to what they are accusing others of.
Recommended reading: Liberal Fascism by Jonah Goldberg
Now just hold on there!
Submitted by DontFeedTheTrolls on Sun, 08/14/2011 - 10:55am.
Wait a minute, I thought liberals didn't want America to be the world's policeman!
See Above
Submitted by Wildcatter1980 on Mon, 08/15/2011 - 10:59am.
See my post above.
--
If you want to know what liberal secular progressives are really doing, just listen to what they are accusing others of.
Recommended reading: Liberal Fascism by Jonah Goldberg
Is there any more doubt that
Submitted by Pinetree3 on Sun, 08/14/2011 - 10:58am.
Is there any more doubt that Krugman is completely nuts? Krugman and Zakaria are made for each other.
if space aliens came down to Earth...
Submitted by Jnoble on Sun, 08/14/2011 - 11:01am.
..they'd beam Krugman on thier ship and ask him where he's been all this time. That's the only explanation for most of the things he says on economics.
Failed economist Krugman
Submitted by Cactus Kurt on Sun, 08/14/2011 - 11:09am.
Failed economist Paul Krugman still doesn't get it. Obama & Co. tried Keynesian theory, and guess what... it doesn't work. Krugman's failed economic theories remind one of Groundhog Day. What the US economy needs are private sector jobs that actually produce a product or service that can be sold for profit. Capitalism...what a concept. Now if the space aliens were to buy US products...
But...
Submitted by Wildcatter1980 on Mon, 08/15/2011 - 11:01am.
(There is always a but.) Krugman is a good liberal secular progressive and he knows they need to find a new crisis to try and rally the people behind. (See my post above for more details.)
--
If you want to know what liberal secular progressives are really doing, just listen to what they are accusing others of.
Recommended reading: Liberal Fascism by Jonah Goldberg
when failure is an option
Submitted by MidAmerica on Sun, 08/14/2011 - 11:03am.
Krugman is sounding just like the Holy Grail scene where the giant wooden rabbit is a total failure so then it is suggested that they should try a giant wooden badger......
LOL...
Submitted by jdripper on Sun, 08/14/2011 - 11:09am.
From now on when I see Zakira and Krugman I will be able to imagine them sitting there with caps that have propeller blades on top and going whee whee over and over while they spend their propellers.
Jack
So...defense buildup is GOOD
Submitted by ex buff e-dub on Sun, 08/14/2011 - 11:10am.
So...defense buildup is GOOD for the economy...??? Why wait for aliens Paulie? Let's make sure the super committee keeps this in mind when it comes time to pull the trigger on the debt ceiling bill.
Right, so why is Obama
Submitted by Reaver on Sun, 08/14/2011 - 11:50am.
Right, so why is Obama cutting defense if it is such a great economic stimulus? And if space aliens won’t conveniently show themselves maybe we should invade some third world country like Libya or Tunisia… wait a second!
Field Marshal Krugman
Submitted by Galvanic on Sun, 08/14/2011 - 12:23pm.
PAUL KRUGMAN, NEW YORK TIMES: Think about World War II, right? That was actually negative social product spending, and yet it brought us out.
Negative social product spending? Is that a euphemism for "tens of millions of dead people?"
Krugman has been against the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan as drains on the budget, but now he seems to advocate major war. War is okay, I guess, as long as it's BIG enough.
Bahahaha, Krugman is such a
Submitted by dscott on Sun, 08/14/2011 - 2:55pm.
Bahahaha, Krugman is such a moron, he now outs himself on the position of defense spending as being GOOD for the economy. So is there a peace dividend or not? According to Krugman, the chief liberal financial luminary, there is NO SUCH THING AS A PEACE DIVIDEND.
This puts the whole premise of federal spending on it's ear as far as liberal priorities are concerned since they have demagogued military spending as wasteful and depriving the poor. Good one Krugman, you just blew the whole idea of slashing military spending.
Krugman calls for war to save Keynesian economics
Submitted by Galvanic on Sun, 08/14/2011 - 11:32am.
Last week, it was Matthews who pointed to the New Deal kept the economy rolling until WW2 came along to save the economy. Now, even Nobel-laureate Krugman hopes for a war to save the economy. If war is the economic solution, why did Matthews and Krugman oppose the war in Iraq?
FAREED ZAKARIA, HOST: But even if you were, wouldn't John Maynard Keynes say that if you could employ people to dig a ditch and then fill it up again, that's fine, they're being productively employed, they'd pay taxes, so maybe Boston's Big Dig was just fine after all.
And there in a single sentence you have the fatal philosophical flaw in the Left's economic model. It ignores the key element: the source of the wealth. And if you listen to Pelosi -- who maintains, for example, that every $1 of unemployment benefits produces $2 in the economy -- then borrowing to expand government spending makes sense.
But I'm reminded of the old line "I can't have emptied my checking account because I still have checks in my check book." the Left never addresses the debt as long as they can keep writing checks against borrowed money.
Krugman and Zakaria are held up by the Left as examples of its intellectual superiority, and they parrot their nonsense.
Pelosi's logic
Submitted by Cactus Kurt on Sun, 08/14/2011 - 12:06pm.
"And if you listen to Pelosi -- who maintains, for example, that every $1 of unemployment benefits produces $2 in the economy -- then borrowing to expand government spending makes sense.".
Using Nancy Pelosi's logic, the entire country should be on unemployment. Isn't that Obama's economic policy?
Shack!
Submitted by Blonde on Sun, 08/14/2011 - 12:29pm.
~ in the immortal words of one of our bomber pilots, IIRC (I just don't remember which one, it's been too long).
Handy Reference Guide to Obama's Gaffes and Goofs ~ Currently Numbering 200 (and Counting)
The cone heads in France
Submitted by upcountrywater on Sun, 08/14/2011 - 11:33am.
They are already swarming here
You Didn't Build That.
Krugman's Nobel Prize Made of Papier-mâché
Submitted by Motormouth KOS on Sun, 08/14/2011 - 11:36am.
Just like Professor Downgrade's Nobel Peace Prize.
This wild-eyed midget has officially gone over the edge. I expect to see him in a straight jacket when he makes his next appearance on MSDNC.
The Obamination... A crisis leading to a catastrophe..(please donate to MRC)
Worthless
Submitted by Jerry Mack on Sun, 08/14/2011 - 11:45am.
Nobel Prize,emmy,grammy,tony,ect awards are all the same. They prove nothing except someone won. How many times has the Messiah been introduced or referred to as the Nobel Prize winning President?
Switching The Prize
Submitted by HardRightTurn on Sun, 08/14/2011 - 11:45am.
The Nobel committee has convened to consider whether or not to switch the prize from economics to science fiction. They will soon realize that Orson Wells already won that one.
To more fully comprehend the Left, one must read “Leftism As Psychopathy” by John Ray, M.A., Ph.D. Caution, it might scare you a little bit.
http://jonjayray.tripod.com/psycho.html
This is the brilliant guy who
Submitted by buddyc on Sun, 08/14/2011 - 11:53am.
This is the brilliant guy who laid the foundation for porkulous claiming "it doesn't matter what they spend it on" and "there is a hole and they just need to fill it with money". That gave progressives cover to pay billions to the people who elected them (public employee unions, environmental whackos, Hollywood perverts) without regard to common sense, increasing productivity, infrastructure, waste, the future and reducing future costs.
Krugman hasn't been right about anything for at lest 12 years.
Is Krugman calling back his masters from the planet Zongo?
Submitted by drsamherman on Sun, 08/14/2011 - 11:45am.
Or maybe he is the big-headed dude from "To Serve Man" signalling we are ready to be harvested.
Whatever metaphor Krugman (if that is his real name) is using, he should leave the NYT and work at the next Comic Con instead.
Krudman has just lowered the bar.
Submitted by hbnolikeee on Sun, 08/14/2011 - 11:51am.
It will be a bit more difficult now to be the dumbest a-hole in the country. Krudman has a solid hold on that Prize.
Are you saying
Submitted by 10ksnooker on Sun, 08/14/2011 - 12:02pm.
Krugman is a space alien? So that's where he gets his useless rantings.
Nanu-nanu
Submitted by Galvanic on Sun, 08/14/2011 - 12:05pm.
He does have that crazed alien look in his eyes.
I am tellin' ya
Submitted by StarAZ on Sun, 08/14/2011 - 12:16pm.
Like a bronc in the chute.
The guy is a
Submitted by killa37 on Sun, 08/14/2011 - 1:39pm.
The guy is a loony-friggin'-toon............only he's a queebie-ass white color version of a bronc in the chute - maybe a little calf in the chute. And this whole conversation that these absolutely pathetic dopes are having about their views on the economy is one of the most ludicrous things I've read. No wonder we're in the shape we're in..............these guys are as clueless as anyone can be - yet they are representative of a particular mindset that has grinded us down to where we are these days.
And as for Zachariah, or whatever the hell this clown's name is...................go the hell back to your Mooooooooooooooooslem brethen and take your dumb anti-American vision with you..........you're a prime example of the kind of 'immigrants' that we DON'T want here in our country!!! Hell, take that loony-toon psuedo-economist Krudman with you too........maybe he can help to expand the economic conditions back where you came from.
When you gotta go, may as well go big!
Submitted by DumbCanuck on Sun, 08/14/2011 - 12:12pm.
"No, there was a "Twilight Zone" episode like this in which scientists fake an alien threat in order to achieve world peace. Well, this time, we don't need it, we need it in order to get some fiscal stimulus."
You mean, the way some scientists faked the global warming hysteria?
WOW! Unbelievable in every meaning of the word! I think Krugman has finally lost it. And well, if you lose the debate, may as well go down in a blaze of glory.
Hopefully, this "Nobel Laureate" will be remembered for this quote as his signature line. You know... Space-Alien Krugman, or something like that.
"There... Are... Four... Lights!"
Too late, Paul
Submitted by StarAZ on Sun, 08/14/2011 - 12:15pm.
They are already here and no defense buildup...sorry.
The Architects of fear!
Submitted by Fredy on Sun, 08/14/2011 - 12:20pm.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0667826/
thank you!
Submitted by michiganruth on Sun, 08/14/2011 - 5:26pm.
I knew there wasn't a Twilight Zone like that. amazing how many people confuse TZ with "The Outer Limits" when the two shows were really so different.
but...hardly the only thing Krugman is wrong about!
TZ ep...
Submitted by Too Old To Be Cool on Mon, 08/15/2011 - 5:40pm.
There WAS a TZ episode dealing with a "fake alien invasion" called "The Monsters Are Due On Maple Street".
The aliens manipulated electricity to cause neighbor to turn on neighbor. One alien says that it's easy to take over - just make the humans fight amongst themselves...and Maple Street is "typical".
Well, given that Krugman is obviously from Uranus...
Submitted by Dave. on Sun, 08/14/2011 - 12:28pm.
...he must be a member of the pre-invasion scouting party.
Ya know, given the increase in the number of lefties (like scam artist Al Gore) and MSMers that appear to be really losing it of late, I think the world is headed for a shortage of Prozac and straight jackets.
-Dave
Vote for the American in November
Krugman wallpaper
Submitted by bkeyser on Sun, 08/14/2011 - 12:33pm.
to commemorate the official empty bucket of progressive economic recovery ideas. The Alien Recovery Act of 2011.
ET, uh, there's a call for you on the red phone.
.............sick
Submitted by killa37 on Sun, 08/14/2011 - 1:42pm.
.............sick man..........................need help..................
Even though Krugman is
Submitted by Jack Bauer on Sun, 08/14/2011 - 12:34pm.
Even though Krugman is calling for the alien invasion, if it happens Obama and the Democrats will still blame GEORGE BUSH...
And the New York Times front page splash will be
ALIENS INVADE EARTH -- WOMEN AND MINORITIES HARDEST HIT
All of the above Mr Obama? --- How about ALL OF THE BELOW, instead.
It's Over, Paulie
Submitted by rammingspeed on Sun, 08/14/2011 - 12:47pm.
Obviously this stiff necked dweeb was trying to joke. Bad, bad idea, Paulie, buddy. You're as funny as the notion of someone passing a socialist health care bill in America. Wait! Someone did that! See, not funny.
Shut up, Krugman.
OK rmngspd.......ws jk??
Submitted by killa37 on Sun, 08/14/2011 - 1:44pm.
OK rmngspd.......ws jk?? LOL!!! LMAO!!! BTW krgmn.........STFU!!!!
Three left wing bomb thrower
Submitted by Barack Must Go on Sun, 08/14/2011 - 12:48pm.
Three left wing bomb thrower pee-pee pants in a pod. The liberal movement has basically murdered and buried itself under Obama's stewardship.
He/they have proven beyond a shadow of a doubt their movement is run by a group of miscreants one step beyond the criminally insane.
NY Times Headline
Submitted by MrLuigi on Sun, 08/14/2011 - 1:20pm.
SPACE ALIENS ATTACK:
WOMEN AND MINORITIES HARDEST HIT
"Stupid is as stupid does." Forrest Gump.
Submitted by Newsbubba on Sun, 08/14/2011 - 1:24pm.
Hell, we have a space alien in the White House, and we are paying congress millions to do nothing!
If that's all it took to fix the economy we'd be in high cotton (not an ethnic slur).
Maybe what Crudman means is to create the Obama Brown Shirt Force.
Krugman actually encourages MILITARY BUILDUP??
Submitted by gopcongress on Sun, 08/14/2011 - 1:28pm.
So Paul Krugman actually wants a strong military defense buildup, ostensibly at the expense of welfare, social programs, racial justice programs, green energy subsidies, etc, etc? Next, Barack Obama will promote the flat tax, capped at 15% for everyone no matter their salary.
Yeah, right.
Seriously, this is insane. One would think that if Krugman were to emulate a Twilight Zone episod, he would choose the episode "A Small Talent for War" (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Small_Talent_for_War), in which an alien gives Earth an ultimatum: Establish world peace in 24 hours or we will destroy the planet. All the countries agree on a peace treaty, whereby the aliens attack and take over a now-defenseless Earth. Of course, in the real world Krugman, being the commie lib that he is, he wouldn't have the hindsight that would foresee this obvious conclusion.
"The news and truth are not the same thing." -Walter Lippmann (1889-1974) FOLLOW ME ON TWITTER
The Twilight Zone? Really?
Submitted by CobraMan on Sun, 08/14/2011 - 2:52pm.
"But even if you were, wouldn't John Maynard Keynes say that if you could employ people to dig a ditch and then fill it up again, that's fine, they're being productively employed, they'd pay taxes, so maybe Boston's Big Dig was just fine after all."
Define "productively," if you would, please? I don't think "productively" would be defined as reversing the accomplishments you've just labored to produce. I would define that as "counter-productive." Kind of like paying someone a thousand dollars so they can pay back 100 dollars in taxes.
"Think about World War II, right? That was actually negative social product spending, and yet it brought us out."
That isn't what "brought us out" of economic decline, you simpleton. The economy didn't recover until the mid-50's, almost ten years AFTER the war ended. What "brought us out" was a decrease in government spending, government imposed industrial manufacture and production quotas, and a corresponding reduction of inflation and interest rates combined with a rapid rise of Capitalism in the form of increased consumer demand, which lead an increase in PRIVATE industry which was necessary to fulfill that demand.
Don't forget that this "negative social spending," as you called it, led directly to rationing and the confiscation of personal property, like privately held reserves of gold, silver, copper, and the like, for the "war effort." It reduced private industry, increased government imposed quotas (also known as government directed production) and, in doing so, worsened the economy as a whole. You don't ration food, fuel, metals, and the like, during economic expansion. You only do that when the economy is so deflated, so depressed, that it can't even support itself, let alone the government which controls it. Is this REALLY what you think is necessary for economic recovery? Rationing and the confiscation of private wealth? It's no wonder you're citing fiction as an "example." Your fiscal remedies are as fictitious as an alien attack! And about as productive as digging a ditch and then refilling it.
The Citizens of each State shall be entitled to all Privileges and Immunities of Citizens in the several States. The US Constitution
Unless you're a fetus. The US Supreme Court
Or Anwar al-Awlaki.
Spaced
Submitted by deadeyedan on Sun, 08/14/2011 - 2:50pm.
What Hollywood doesn't seem to understand when it creates alien attack missions to earth is that the war is already lost once we figure out that they're on our doorstep. Civilizations with the capability of getting here would necessarily be immune from counterattack.
Yet there has been a chance to do exactly as Thugman suggests all along and which we have already accomplished in a manner with what can be called "unintended consequences", but this time all beneficial. It was called manned moon landings.
A careful analysis of what came about as a result of Jack Kennedy's bold initiative would reveal that what is left of our nation's prosperity is mostly due to the Mercury/Gemini/Apollo programs and some even from the space shuttle.
The democrats, though, have long ago abandoned and betrayed the space program (no surprise that Obambi cut the gut out of the Bush Orion/Constellation initiative) and has saturated NASA with global warming investigation missions.
Going back to the moon and establishing colonies there which could create (never clouded-out) solar power stations to beam that genuinely inexhaustible energy back here would have actual value and might be able to give our economy its long overdue jump start.
Liberalism - government of the people by the theories and for the ideologists - deadeyedan
Global warming - authoritarian, rather than authoritative, science - deadeyedan
ClimateGate - the revelation that the pseudo-scientists at East Anglia University know just as much about the atmosphere as Harvard law professors know about the Constitution - deadeyedan
The problem with NASA
Submitted by CobraMan on Sun, 08/14/2011 - 3:24pm.
The problem with government directed and controlled "innovation," like the things that NASA produces, is that that they're so limited in their scope that they are useless outside of the program that created them. Take Radar, for example. The development of radar was a government military development that, if left in the hands of the government, would be almost useless to most people, outside of a very select group that is deemed, by government, as "necessary" to use that technology (like airports for traffic control). Do you think that DARPA, for example, would have developed Microwave Ovens, which is a direct application of radar technology outside of the scope of military, and highly limited civilian, applications?
And how about GPS, another government directed technology that was so limited in scope that it was useless to most people and, thanks to those limitation, suffered a, shall we say, glut of innovation once the technology was adopted. Do you think that any government program would have developed, say, a GPS enabled cell-phone? Or even synthesized voice technology telling you where you should turn next, something that every single civilian GPS device has but military devices do not have. No, that would be outside the scope of that program.
Yes, government funded and directed technology programs can develop advanced technology, but those programs, by necessity, are so limited in their scope that nothing they actually produce will benefit the population as a whole. Just look to the Space Shuttle as a perfect example. Even before the first space shuttle was launched, private industry had produce a digital wrist watch that had several times the computational power of the 'advanced" computers the shuttle used, all thanks to the ability of private industry to produce and innovate free from government constraints.
In order for any technology to advance and produce for the population as a whole, which contributes to an expansion of any economy, it must be free from government restraints, like funding and development decisions. That technology must be available to private industry, for private industry will be the ones that advance that technology so that it is actually useful to the population as a whole and, therefor, be beneficial to our economy. The government is far to limited (just as it should be), which is an impediment, not an advancement.
The Citizens of each State shall be entitled to all Privileges and Immunities of Citizens in the several States. The US Constitution
Unless you're a fetus. The US Supreme Court
Or Anwar al-Awlaki.
Paul Krugman finally made some sense. Krugman is affirming
Submitted by Rush Fan on Sun, 08/14/2011 - 3:37pm.
what those of us with intelligence already know---that we are not alone in this universe, and that other life forms, Krugman calls them space aliens, scientists call them extraterrestrial life, exist. It makes perfect sense that we can't be all alone in this boundless.universe.
However, his scenario of space aliens attacking us is way off mark, as you would expect from a Socialist and discredited Nobel laureate. Extraterrestrial life forms would want us to survive, and would wish the best for Earth's life forms, i.e. humans. The extraterrestrials, like Spock, would want us to live long and prosper.
In order to live long and prosper, extraterrestrials would understand that Progressivism/Socialism/Communism must be eliminated. So I call on any extraterrestrials who may or will be reading this post to collect all of the above mentioned parasites (def: one who habitually takes advantage of the generosity of others without making any useful return), and take them to another planet, or better yet another galaxy.
Would they really?
Submitted by CobraMan on Sun, 08/14/2011 - 3:40pm.
"Extraterrestrial life forms would want us to survive, and would wish the best for Earth's life forms, i.e. humans."
Would they really want us to survive? Let's be honest: We kill ourselves by the millions, just as we've been doing throughout our entire history. Do you think we'd treat the aliens any better than we treat ourselves? It's a sure bet that the aliens wouldn't think so! If I were an alien, I'd stay the hell away from Humans! If we do develop technologies that would allow us to venture out into interstellar space, I have no doubt that the alien civilizations would do everything in its power to stop us. We're far to dangerous. "Klaatu barada nikto" isn't going to save us.
The Citizens of each State shall be entitled to all Privileges and Immunities of Citizens in the several States. The US Constitution
Unless you're a fetus. The US Supreme Court
Or Anwar al-Awlaki.
Krugman is having a flashback*
Submitted by cajun2 on Sun, 08/14/2011 - 3:56pm.
To serve Man
One of my favorite episodes
Submitted by CobraMan on Sun, 08/14/2011 - 4:30pm.
"To Serve Man" is one of my favorite episodes. Just look how many people were ecstatic to think that the aliens were here to "serve" us, kinda like how the liberals looked to Obama to "serve" us. The results are about the same, too. Sheep happily being led to the slaughter. Obama to Fox News: You are obsolete!
The Citizens of each State shall be entitled to all Privileges and Immunities of Citizens in the several States. The US Constitution
Unless you're a fetus. The US Supreme Court
Or Anwar al-Awlaki.
Hilarious!
Submitted by E.S.Blofeld on Sun, 08/14/2011 - 4:20pm.
We need boogeymen with valuable assets like oil for us to generate defense (sarc for the libs). Aliens are of no value since we haven't figured out how to use Dilithium crystals since we haven't figured out the advanced drawings from the Area 51 detainees...LOL
Ernst
"Isn't it pretty to think that way?"-EH
Krugman isn't just an incompetent partisan hack...
Submitted by Phryj1 on Sun, 08/14/2011 - 5:43pm.
...he's stupid. He actually thinks inflation is a good thing, even though inflation is provably a drag on our economy. People go to stores and see things are more expensive than just a couple years ago, and they don't want to buy, thus profits go down, and businesses decide to sit on capital rather than make use of it, and so on. I don't have a degree in economics, but I can understand this. Krugman actually thinks MORE inflation is going to help! He's a moron! Anyone with a basic understanding of math can see the serious flaws in his thinking. Yes, Paul, let's have the gov't spend money on make-work jobs and things we don't need, even though time and time again, history has shown wasteful stimulus doesn't work. Great idea.
Granted, being 15 trillion dollars in debt wouldn't be as much of an issue if the dollar goes down in value, but that creates so many other problems it's not worth the cost.
Honestly, what we need is DEflation. It would be like absolutely everything going on sale, and people would go out and start spending money like it's going out of style. The economy would roar to life and everyone would win. Someone just needs to tell the left-wingers to shut the heck up and let us try something different. Their ideas and policies simply do NOT work.
Progressives seem to be completely averse to facts and logic. Apparently, reality has a conservative bias.
The myth that war is a stimulus to prosperity
Submitted by Andrew_M_Garland on Sun, 08/14/2011 - 6:49pm.
"World War II spending ended the depression" is an amazing myth serving politicians who love big government.
Dollars are not magic fairies spreading wealth wherever they sprinkle their dust. Dollars only arrange an exchange between people having something to trade. First, a worker trades his personal production for dollars, then he trades the dollars for food. The interconnection of a free market economy delivers goods to the farmer in exchange for the food he grows.
Our government is borrowing money to "stimulate the economy" by spending it to buy projects like road repair. Roads are useful, but less useful than the other things that would be created by the private citizens who are forced to give their resources to the government. And, government is wasteful, using a lot of resources for little result.
Why aren't private citizens expanding business and creating jobs? Because the government is threatening them with regulation and taxes to pay for the "stimulus" it is borrowing. Businessmen worry about the future, about who will buy things from them after they produce them. Government threat and action is making this impossible to predict, so there is little private investment. Unfortunately, government "stimulus" is an extremely poor, laughable attempted substitute.
Leftists claim that the government spending of World War II, rationing, and the conscription of soldiers (giving everyone a "job") somehow produced prosperity. But, what possible mechanism produces prosperity out of war? People can't eat or enjoy tanks, and shooting people produces nothing of value beyond winning.
In reality, WWII interrupted FDR’s plans and changed the mood of the American people to reject big government. It was the post-war reaction of the people against FDR’s policies that resulted in good policies and renewed prosperity.
→ Spending did not end the Great Depression
Reduced spending and lowered tax rates did it.
=== ===
[edited] What happened in 1945 at the end of WWII? FDR was convinced the only way to employ the 12 million returning soldiers was another New Deal program, but he died before he could impose his plan. The new President Truman proposed it, along with national healthcare.
Both the Congress and Senate had Democratic majorities. They said "No" to the whole New Deal revival: no federal program for health care, no full-employment act, only limited federal housing, and no increase in minimum wage or Social Security benefits.
Instead, Congress reduced taxes across the board. Top marginal corporate tax rates effectively went from 90% to 38% after 1945.
By the late 1940s, a revived economy was generating more annual federal revenue than the U.S. had received during the higher tax rates of the war years. Price controls ended by the end of 1946. The U.S. began running budget surpluses.
Unemployment had remained double-digit throughout the whole New Deal. One year after the end of New Deal policies and the return of economic freedom, it was under 4% despite the return of a huge number of soldiers.
=== ===
Stimulus Does Not Cure a Recession
Paul Krugman, meet your new cell mate Chris Matthews
Submitted by Chris Norman on Sun, 08/14/2011 - 7:09pm.
Wait. Don't liberals sneer at the 1980s economic boom and denigrate it as being merely the result of Ronald Reagan's "reckless" cold war defense build-up? So, now it would be a good thing? And being uber PC, he had to go out of the frickin' solar system to find an enemy choice that won't offend any of his fellow liberals? Maybe Krugman and Chris Matthews can find a discount rate on a double padded cell to share.
Mr. Sheppard? Space Aliens are planning to attack sir.
Submitted by The Vet on Sun, 08/14/2011 - 9:31pm.
Where Mr. Krugman got his information on the coming space alien attack ---
ALIEN SPACESHIPS TO ATTACK EARTH IN NOVEMBER!
I'd say he gets his info on
Submitted by Bhaal on Sun, 08/14/2011 - 10:26pm.
I'd say he gets his info on the aliens from his anal probe since he is talking out of his butt.
Get Help
Submitted by IrateNate on Sat, 05/05/2012 - 3:48pm.
Yes, its time to fire up the Bat-Boy signal.
Gotta love that Weekly World News. Which reminds me; whatever happened to the three-legged woman who won the dance contest?
It's Official.
Submitted by LibertyAtStake on Sun, 08/14/2011 - 9:30pm.
Your Progressive Ruling Elite Educated Class has gone completely mad.
d(^_^)b
http://libertyatstake.blogspot.com/
"Because the Only Good Progressive is a Failed Progressive"
The Last of Us Arrived After The Civil War
Submitted by Avitar on Mon, 08/15/2011 - 3:13am.
Please don't make us go back our worlld is completely uninhabitable due to the green Kudzoo planters. They made the environment "better" until it destroyed all civilization on our planet. We think that we got the lasst of those we brought with us but there may be a few half brreds still runing around the jungle communes. .
The diffferance between the good aliens and the bad ones is that the bad ones hide in the jungles so their kids don't have borth cirtificates. Just be watchful of anyone with an unnatural attraction to the color green or doesn't have a birth certificute and we will all be alright.
It's only going to get worse, folks.
Submitted by johnsonl on Mon, 08/15/2011 - 6:15am.
Bear in mind that this guy makes big money teaching your kids how to hate you and your success.
Motive
Submitted by Dennis D on Mon, 08/15/2011 - 10:00am.
Clearly the statements by Zakaria and Krugman are based in their desire to save the Obama Presidency.
Look Kids, It's Cwazy Kwugman!!!
Submitted by Motormouth KOS on Mon, 08/15/2011 - 11:16am.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/66418238@N04/6045554929/in/photostream#/photos/66418238@N04/6045554929/in/photostream/lightbox/
The Obamination... A crisis leading to a catastrophe..(please donate to MRC)
I would say this like a
Submitted by tombaker on Mon, 08/15/2011 - 3:47pm.
I would say this like a Twilight Zone moment, if Krugman did not give away that he got his idea from a fantasy writer who already wrote the script of the Twilight Zone. He went out today to say Texas is a mythical thing, and people working in jobs are not really working in jobs.
Krugman
Submitted by trajan2448 on Tue, 08/16/2011 - 1:02am.
Look at some of the Nobel prize winners of late: Obama, what a joke, Al Gore: his whole "climate gate " propaganda embroiled in accusations of fraud and scandal, Krugman, another total hack whose strong suit is pandering to the extreme quasi- Communist left in academia. These people are all disgraceful parasites, but they , like the poverty pimps they are, learned how to personally profit by exploiting the worst aspects of liberal guilt and fear.
globual wurming
Submitted by TymTrvlr on Tue, 08/16/2011 - 9:34am.
Was'nt algore the goracle and his gorons globual wurming suppose to be an event to suck the world dry of money, to give us a faux common enemy?