Saturday, July 4, 2009

Krugman Wants More Spending

Paul Krugman, a polemicist who writes for the NY Times (and also has a Nobel Prize in Economics), has written an article for the NY Times today that makes one wonder about the Nobel Prize committee. For Krugman, government spending is absolutely anemic. Since the first two stimulus plans (don't forget the Bush Stimulus in January of 2008) seemed to have done us no good, why not more of the same opines Krugman.

Krugman is overjoyed with "cap and trade" and "health care reform," but, in his view, the government needs to get much bigger, much faster. In his article, Krugman expresses his annoyance at his fellow economists who have noticeably been jumping off the Obama-Krugman bandwagon on economic policy. Krugman laments: "And, as an economist, I'd add that many members of my profession are playing a distinctly unhelpful role." You are right on Paul -- the truth is often not helpful -- especially to politicians.