Well, on Tuesday, Krugman got his well-deserved comeuppance as Fox News’ Neil Cavuto called him out for such errors in transmission, and actually called Krugman a liar (must-see video available here):
Here’s what I’m saying that you’re doing: You are lying to people. That’s what I think that you’re doing.
Krugman then actually had the nerve to respond: “I haven’t heard a lie yet.” He mustn’t proofread his work. Luckily, Neil was having none of this:
No, no, you’re mentioning good data. You’re saying there’s a growing divide between the haves and have nots. Others have argued that very effectively and very eloquently, just like you. All I’m saying is that the math that applied now, can’t you apply it in other periods, when there have been Democratic presidents who’ve had the same dislocations? You’re saying that it’s somehow dramatically worse now than it was 10 years ago, 20 years ago?
This of course has been the point many on the right have been making the past six years as Krugman has continually referred to current financial conditions as abysmal even though similar data during the Clinton years was always gloriously received and written about as boom-like by this so-called economist.
That said, another fabulous exchange was when Cavuto pointed out that while Krugman carps and whines about CEO pay, he never once bemoaned what the New York Times’ Arthur Sulzberger has been making while his company’s profits and shares have plummeted. True to form, Krugman amazingly responded: “I didn’t even know about it.”
In reality, this shouldn’t surprise us, for Krugman has shown that he really doesn’t know anything about what is going on around him. Instead, as George Carlin’s radio character Biff Barf used to say: “I call 'em the way I see 'em. And, if I don’t see 'em, I make it up.”
Bravo, Neil. Encore. Encore.
