The Other McCain

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The Wrongness of Krugman

Posted on | August 16, 2011 | 13 Comments

Kevin Williamson disassembles the Nobel Prize-winning Keynesian:

Paul Krugman continues his campaign to discredit the economic success of Texas, and, as usual, he is none too particular about the facts . . .
A booming population leads to growth in jobs. But there is another half to that equation: A booming economy, and the jobs that go with it, leads to population growth. Texas has added millions of people and millions of jobs in the past decade; New York, and many other struggling states, added virtually none of either. And it is not about the weather or other non-economic factors: People are not leaving California for Texas because Houston has a more pleasant climate (try it in August), or leaving New York because of the superior cultural amenities to be found in Nacogdoches and Lubbock. People are moving from the collapsing states into the expanding states because there is work to be had, and opportunity. . . .

Read the whole thing. Like all Keynesians, Krugman is adept at cherry-picking data to fit his own narrative and then attempting to discredit antagonists by claiming that they are the ones engaged in special pleading.

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Comments

13 Responses to “The Wrongness of Krugman”

  1. Anonymous
    August 16th, 2011 @ 3:12 pm

    Stacy, this Protein Wisdom post links to an article on Perry done by Ben Smith at Politico. You really want to check out the comments section at Politico. Every Copperhead talking point about the Texas economy is on parade… not for the young.

  2. JeffS
    August 16th, 2011 @ 3:43 pm

    You can always tell when Krugman is wrong….his lips are moving.

  3. Anonymous
    August 16th, 2011 @ 3:46 pm

    Krugman = wrongness cubed

  4. Mark J Dietl
    August 16th, 2011 @ 4:01 pm

    Water is wet, fire is hot and Paul Krugman is wrong…

  5. DaveO
    August 16th, 2011 @ 4:31 pm

    Krugman defines all that is wrong with the Nobel Prize. I almost wish Krugman were a genuine economist, educated and studied in the sciences, and familiar with such things as statistical analysis, research, and simple logic.

    But, bashing Bush got him the Prize and with it the false cachet of respectability. So, I no longer bother to read Krugman, even when he’s declaring himself a fifth column for space aliens.

  6. Anonymous
    August 16th, 2011 @ 4:35 pm

    Krugman also wants us to hype a threat of alien invasion, spend a couple trillion on it to stimulate the economy. He said this in response to Fareed Zaccaria’s state that Keynes example of of paying people to dig holes and then fill them back in to stimulate demand.

    http://moonbattery.com/?p=1058

  7. ThePaganTemple
    August 16th, 2011 @ 5:06 pm

    Krugman is a genuine economist. They’re all full of shit.

  8. Anonymous
    August 16th, 2011 @ 5:35 pm

    Krugman. 
     
    Krug – A thief, scoundrel, or rascal.  Man – a noun often used to cover both sexes. 
     
    Krugman – Barackenstein’s toadie.

  9. Anonymous
    August 16th, 2011 @ 6:47 pm

    Adobe, he’s also trying to make the not so subtle point that Tea Partiers wouldn’t have any problems spending money if we got to kill some aliens… especially illegal ones… 

  10. Anonymous
    August 16th, 2011 @ 6:56 pm

    Actually in that clip he’s asserting that any kind of spending no matter how purposeless would be good for the economy. If he has any friends, it’s time for an intervention.

  11. Charles
    August 16th, 2011 @ 7:43 pm

    Krugman has it wrong but it’s a fair question how many of the private sector jobs Rick Perry “created” in Texas in the last decade were due to (a) high gasoline prices that are draining wallets in the rest of the country, (b) Katrina refugees who were bused to Houston and couldn’t afford to move elsewhere, and (c) illegal immigrants who snuck over the border on his watch.

    The correct answer is that the private sector created all those jobs. And what Rick Perry did was to offer tax and other incentives to corporations so they would create those jobs in Texas. How does Rick Perry do that in the nation as a whole, particularly when the federal government is broke?

  12. DaveO
    August 16th, 2011 @ 8:30 pm

    Well, that’s true.