The New York Times economics parody writer Paul Krugman — because that’s all he’s been reduced to now — can’t seem to avoid sleepwalking his way into major, unforced errors.
In another Apr. 9 column praising President Joe Biden’s alleged “Goldilocks” economy, Krugman was adamant that “while there was a wave of inflation, it seems to have broken.”
Yes, Krugman wrote this just a day before the Bureau of Labor Statistics released its Apr. 10 report showing that consumer prices spiked hotter than expected at 3.5 percent year-over-year and 0.4 percent month-over-month.
CNBC analyzed that core consumer prices (excluding food and energy) “also accelerated 0.4% on a monthly basis while rising 3.8% from a year ago, compared with respective estimates for 0.3% and 3.7%.”
French newspaper Le Monde concluded, “The numbers are bad and getting worse.” In other words, Krugman: You done messed up A-Aron.
Krugman’s column, in retrospect, gets even more painful as one reads on:
Basically, America rapidly restored full employment while experiencing a one-time jump in the level of prices without a sustained rise in inflation, the rate at which prices are rising. Not bad, especially considering all the dire predictions made along the way.” [emphasis added].
Ouch.
The other hole in Krugman’s argument here is that he doesn’t mention the workers missing from the labor force. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce estimated that number to be around 1.7 million on Feb. 13, 2024, compared to February 2020. The chamber stated, “If every unemployed person in the country found a job, we would still have nearly 2.4 million open jobs. Other estimates put the number of jobs missing from the labor market compared to its pre-pandemic trend at 4.8 million.
Krugman’s new shtick for spinning the U.S. economic situation is suggesting that Americans should forget the CPI index by the BLS altogether. The so-called breaking of the “wave of inflation,” as Krugman put it, is “especially clear if you measure inflation the way other countries do.” By his distorted metrics, Krugman claimed irresponsibly that “inflation has already been cut to roughly 2 percent, the [Federal Reserve’s] inflation target.” Ah, so all Americans have to do is use other countries’ metrics to hoodwink themselves into believing that the inflation situation is better than it is, right? Brilliant!
It’s too bad for Krugman the liberal media writ large are now projecting the new inflation numbers are signaling that the Fed isn’t anywhere near its target to be comfortably cutting interest rates anytime soon.
Even liberal CNN anchor Kate Bolduan admitted that the hot BLS numbers meant “[i]nflation is headed in the wrong direction right now.” Subsequently, the Atlanta Federal Reserve revised down its nowcast model for first quarter GDP growth to 2.4 percent from its April 5, 2.5 percent estimate. Heritage Foundation economist EJ Antoni summarized what the series of unfortunate events for Krugman’s narrative meant for the future in an X post: “BLS releases hot CPI and now ATL Fed revises down GDP nowcast...Inflation: faster[.] Growth: slower [.] Say it w/ me: stagflation.”
BLS releases hot CPI and now ATL Fed revises down GDP nowcast...
— E.J. Antoni, Ph.D. (@RealEJAntoni) April 10, 2024
Inflation: faster
Growth: slower
Say it w/ me: stagflation pic.twitter.com/UoptaylTDe
But that’s not all. Queens College, Cambridge President Mohamed A. El-Erian even conceded that the hot inflation report signaled “continued price pressure on consumers, which hits the poor hardest, and a sharp market reaction.” Liberal Harvard Professor of Practice Jason Furman also admitted, “Over the last twelve months core CPI has risen 3.5%. That is faster than any twelve month period from February 1993 to 2020.”
Conservatives are under attack. Contact The New York Times at 800-698-4637 and demand it distance itself from Krugman’s awful takes on Bidenomics.
