Paul Krugman, New York Times economics columnist and chronic escapist, can’t help making himself look even more clownish by casting Bidenomics as anything other than the inflation-stimulating mess that it is.
“The Secret of America’s Economic Success,” read Krugman’s Oct. 23 piece of propaganda. Krugman regurgitated his ridiculous flapdoodle that America has somehow beaten the scourge of high inflation.
He pointed to a graph by blockchain-based firm Truflation purporting to give a more accurate inflation depiction to proclaim a “steep decline in inflation over the past year.” But there’s a problem. The graph Krugman pointed to just shows a slowing inflation rate, not a “decline in inflation” as Krugman deceptively insinuated.
In fact, ongoing inflation has caused prices to skyrocket more than 17 percent higher on average since President Joe Biden first took office. That trend has not reversed.
But Krugman went right ahead and attributed this illusion of economic success largely to Biden’s absurd pursuit of an “aggressively expansionary fiscal policy.” Despite Americans showing profound disapproval for the Biden economy in recent surveys due to their current struggles, Krugman still chose to double down: “[O]ne thing is clear: We have been remarkably successful, even if nobody will believe it.”
But it turns out Krugman was cherry-picking Truflation’s data anyway. In another graph showing Truflation’s rising “aggregated” inflation rate, Truflation stated that “American purchasing power has been eroded by 23.94%” since January 2020. Krugman didn’t bother mentioning this information, because it blows a hole in his argument. Krugman even tried to prop up Biden’s notorious $1.9 trillion stimulus bill as one of the primary the reasons for his idea of an American “success” story and minimized the horrific inflationary effects it had on the economy.
“Many economists were extremely critical, warning that this spending would fuel inflation, which it probably did for a while,”Krugman claimed. “But inflation has subsided, while ‘Big Fiscal’ helped the economy get to full employment — arguably the first time we’ve had truly full employment in decades.”
This is about as nonsensical as when Krugman posted a graph on X excluding food, energy, shelter, and used cars — just the things everyday Americans need to survive — to bellow that the “war on inflation is over. We won.” His arguments continuously leave out context that end up undercutting his point.
Business Insider reported Oct. 17 that the “rising cost of food, housing, transportation, and other essentials is impacting low-to-middle income Americans the hardest.” The lowest quintile of Americans, despite experiencing pay increases, are currently spending 80 percent of their incomes on essential goods like food and housing to survive. No wonder Krugman sought to eliminate those variables from consideration when claiming premature victory over inflation.
Regional bank carnage and recent rise in auto delinquencies to long-term historical highs indicate U.S. economy slowing significantly.
— Bill Gross (@real_bill_gross) October 23, 2023
Recession in 4th quarter.
Best investments are equity arbs (CPRI and SGEN. VMW a long shot). I’m seriously considering regional banks again. 1/2
In addition, The Heritage Foundation economist EJ Antoni pointed out in an Oct. 13 column that the 3.8 percent inflation rate reported by the government that Krugman is celebrating haphazardly isn’t telling the whole story:
Accounting for the millions of people currently excluded from the labor market reveals an unemployment rate between 6.3% and 6.8%, much higher than the official 3.8% rate.
Economist Kevin Hassett also pointed out in an Oct. 19 National Review piece that the devastating report from the Census Bureau showing a sizable jump in the poverty rate from 7.8 percent to 12.4 percent in 2022 gave an “extremely grim” economic outlook. He analyzed that the spike was the result of both inflation and the end of COVID-era stimulus and projected that the poverty rate will be shown to have likely worsened in 2023.
Conservatives are under attack! Contact The New York Times at 800-698-4637 and demand it distance itself from Krugman’s shilling for Bidenomics.
