Monday, January 26, 2009

Krugman Sick of the Haters, Mad That He Got Floor Seats at the Lakers

Mild-mannered New York Times columnist Paul Krugman will, on occasion, rip his dress shirt in two and transform into a hulking Keynesian monster. This is one of those times.

He has had it up to here with all the stupid anti-stimulus talk he's been hearing lately. His rhetoric in today's Op-Ed is about as close as you can get in the Times to saying, "Seriously, ass-clowns, shut the fizz-uck up and let Dr. K-man operate."

He describes much of the anti-stimulus talk as "bogus," "fraudulent" "cheap shots." Those who espouse it are "dishonest flacks." And this next section really needs to be quoted in full:

"It’s true that the normal response to recessions is interest-rate cuts from the Fed, not government spending. And that might be the best option right now, if it were available. But it isn’t, because we’re in a situation not seen since the 1930s: the interest rates the Fed controls are already effectively at zero.

That’s why we’re talking about large-scale fiscal stimulus: it’s what’s left in the policy arsenal now that the Fed has shot its bolt. Anyone who cites old arguments against fiscal stimulus without mentioning that either doesn’t know much about the subject — and therefore has no business weighing in on the debate — or is being deliberately obtuse."

We say good for him. Bring the tough rhetoric. We're looking forward to next weeks column, tentatively titled, "Ah Nah, Now Y'all Done Got Me Pissed."

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