Search This Blog

Thursday, September 9, 2010

Krugman Offers Us Canned Circular Revisionism: We Can Repeat the War Time Successes of FDR

Krugman Offers Us Canned Circular Revisionism: We Can Repeat the War Time Successes of FDR.

Abstract: Paul Krugman digs selectively into history to reveal the best opportunity to heal our broken economy and concludes, even before he digs, that this marvelous approach is to just tax and spend and spend in the same manner he has for the last 200 op-eds at the New York Times. Similar to what Albert Switzer found in his reading of the accounts of the historical Jesus[1], Krugman finds his own erratic nostrums buried in the past and hails the antics of FDR as a similar invention of his own making. Krugman laments the future of the Party of Democrats in this November and postpones the new Coming of Age to a later time when we can get more politicos to tax and spend at the FDR or Obama rates. His process may be likened to how a drunk uses a lamppost: for support—not illumination.

The political machinations of the Walter Duranty Papers[2][3]—aka [the near-bankrupt] New York Timesare freshly garnished and festooned with grand prose and lofty theories using the finest attributes of propaganda found in any written form excepting Pravda or perhaps the Huffington Post. There is always a sweet flute to toot in favor of big government, more spending, higher taxes and other essentials that favor the Party of Democrats and their bedtime allies in Venezuela and California. We can always expect the Big Three [Bigger government, higher taxes and more spending] to encompass and cocoon any discussion of any topic related to, or in this case unrelated to economic theory and the current economy. Today, we are led down the merry path of the propagandizing and the stupefaction of the bold mistakes, blunders and such made by FDR during the Great Depression. Although this is a seemingly smorgasbord of wide culinary breadth the actual selections for us to savor are cherry-picked, dipped in old moldy sauces and highlighted for emphasis--thus they are not necessarily true or even complementary to the theme. Krugman sifts through history for examples of what he wants to read. Thus, he can bolster up his own theories by propping them on the pedestal of the past and chucking them to his adoring addressees.

The cause and effective fixes of the Great Depression are not finalized as yet[4], even at this distance in time, but those on the left have found solace in the futile attempts of one John Maynard Keynes and his pleadings with FDR to deficit spend. FDR arrogantly resisted this avenue as he seemed to think, before World War II at least, that debt was somehow bad and a balanced budget was necessary for any real recovery. Keynes was essentially a god to the grand geopolitical jockeys of the era: Stalin, Hitler, Roosevelt and Churchill. Spending is power and they spent! Maybe FDR got that part right even if he guessed wrong.

[I present extensive quotes in this blog so that the reader can view the exact language and can be confident that nothing was taken out of context or that nobody was misquoted. The easiest way to take in the salient points is to read the emphatic points in the quotes and then peruse my comments or terms that run counter to the left. Comments on my comments are always welcome: ryckki@gmail.com.]

Krugman unleashes his findings:

Here’s the situation: The U.S. economy has been crippled by a financial crisis. The president’s policies have limited the damage, but they were too cautious, and unemployment remains disastrously high. More action is clearly needed. Yet the public has soured on government activism, and seems poised to deal Democrats a severe defeat in the midterm election.”[5]-- 1938 in 2010 By Paul Krugman Op-Ed Columnist. Published: September 5, 2010 [Emphasis is mine in all quotes.]

It is fashionable in the erection of propaganda pieces to light off the discussion with a grand sweep of obvious ‘conclusions’ and use them later in parts or theme to plow the fields for the next run of screedlets. So, playing the game, our Nobel Laureate[6] cranks out some preposterous conclusions such as these:

[1] …policies have limited the damage [2] …but they were too cautious, [3] More action is clearly needed…

It is of interest here to wonder how massive deficit spending on foolish stuff is effective in any way. The consequences of debt are always ignored. The Obama stimulus #1 has not worked and neither did cash for clunkers or the housing subsidies. The recent ‘jobs’ program spent $92,000 per job[7] and, then, we spent $24,000 per car on the Clunker Follies and a mere $43,000 per house on the housing scam.[8] And, none of these had a lasting effect. All of the money to propel this was either borrowed or printed up quickie fashion by our government. I wonder why Krugman cannot seem to defend or explain why these failed as he seems to cover up this offal with some nostrums about caution or insufficiency. In the lexicon of the left the word failure is always used as the limiting case. We failed to spend enough…or we failed to tax the rich some more or… When confronted with a stupid program like busing, War on Poverty, HUD, Welfare etc. there is little but silence from the arrogant left. There is always a reason why such programs didn’t work out that well and they will recite the 1,2,3 above as the reasons why the project was not exceptional. Why, we didn’t spend enough!!! Spend more!!!

This next piece shows us the logic he uses:

Now, we weren’t supposed to find ourselves replaying the late 1930s. President Obama’s economists promised not to repeat the mistakes of 1937, when F.D.R. pulled back fiscal stimulus too soon. But by making his program too small and too short-lived, Mr. Obama did just that: the stimulus raised growth while it lasted, but it made only a small dent in unemployment —and now it’s fading out.”-- 1938 in 2010 By Paul Krugman [Emphasis is mine in all quotes.]

Obama has recently fired his so-called ‘economists’ for their blunders and false predictions:

History flashback: The Christine Romer Prophecy:

“…, even with the large prototypical package, the unemployment rate in 2010Q4 is predicted to be approximately 7.0%, which is well below the approximately 8.8% that would result in the absence of a plan.”[9][10]--CNSNews.com Monday, July 06, 2009

The Christine Romer Un-Prophecy: Did Romer recant?

Most analysts predict that the fiscal stimulus will have its greatest impact on growth in the second and third quarters of 2009,” Romer said. “By mid-2010, fiscal stimulus will likely be contributing little to growth.”[11] Christine Romer Oct. 22

We just passed mid-2010. The GDP sinks. What does this mean? Are we to believe that when the government subsidizes the purchase of a car at $24,000 per car that his ought to be continued because it is a stimulus and contributes to the GDP? I think many on the left believe this. The evidence, however, was that as soon as the ‘stimulus’ was lifted the car sales and home sales went back down. The apparent effect of this mess was to stimulate the economy a little bit in selected areas and this was financed by debt! Perhaps we ought to return to the George McGovern idea of a $10,000 minimum income for all as guaranteed by the government. We can adjust that for inflation.

Some rare truths from Krugman:

And just as some of us feared, the inadequacy of the administration’s initial economic plan has landed it — and the nation — in a political trap. More stimulus is desperately needed, but in the public’s eyes the failure of the initial program to deliver a convincing recovery has discredited government action to create jobs.

In short, welcome to 1938.”-- 1938 in 2010 By Paul Krugman

Here is a feint to the far left and an attempt to force ‘history to repeat itself’ and conforms nicely with Krugman’s thesis, among other clichés. Missing is all the fluff and hoopla and the ‘promise to fix the economy’ and all that rubbish and political sop and why we missed the first time. Why didn’t Krugman correct Ms Christine Romer at the time of her utterances and pronounce them inadequate??

Raking the Latrines of the past:

Consider Gallup polling from March 1938. Asked whether government spending should be increased to fight the slump, 63 percent of those polled said no. Asked whether it would be better to increase spending or to cut business taxes, only 15 percent favored spending; 63 percent favored tax cuts. And the 1938 election was a disaster for the Democrats, who lost 70 seats in the House and seven in the Senate.-- 1938 in 2010 By Paul Krugman

It would seem embarrassing to bring this up as the analysis of even parts of this poll shows us that FDR was not liked and his programs were so much crap as are Obama’s worthless antics. Apparently, the left raises this spectre from the grave to warn or intimidate their loyals and camp followers that Obama will lose again from following FDR and the circular logic in the history loop from Krugman will be sound and true.

He bangs his head to hear it rattle:

Austerity is self-defeating: when everyone tries to pay down debt at the same time, the result is depression and deflation, and debt problems grow even worse. And conversely, it is possible — indeed, necessary — for the nation as a whole to spend its way out of debt: a temporary surge of deficit spending, on a sufficient scale, can cure problems brought on by past excesses.”-- 1938 in 2010 By Paul Krugman

Well, there it is: “it is possible — indeed, necessary — for the nation as a whole to spend its way out of debt. “ Krugman slogs down his personal little latrine with his handy spade looking for glistening objects to pluck so as to prove that his path is worthy. He falsely equates the ‘end of a depression’ with the start of a war in that the debt was well used to break the ground for a wonderful recovery after we won the war. The problem with this was that nobody predicted that such a major rearrangement of our economy with 400,000 dead soldiers and massive rationing of sugar, tires and gas would lead to anything more than a bigger depression. FDR believed these predictions and went along his merry path to being a grand geopolitical patzer[12] by moving all the pieces around as he suffered from more and more strokes. He was willing to trash the US for his political goals. Krugman is no less self-enamored of himself.

Tears from the lost dream:

I had hoped that we would do better this time. But it turns out that politicians and economists alike have spent decades unlearning the lessons of the 1930s, and are determined to repeat all the old mistakes. And it’s slightly sickening to realize that the big winners in the midterm elections are likely to be the very people who first got us into this mess, then did everything in their power to block action to get us out.

But always remember: this slump can be cured. All it will take is a little bit of intellectual clarity, and a lot of political will. Here’s hoping we find those virtues in the not too distant future.”--1938 in 2010 By Paul Krugman

He culminates his fulminations with a pitiful lament. One mistake we have not copied as yet from the 1930s is the process where whole societies are destroyed by war and debt and socialists flying over the crevasse of reason into the social and economic ditch. That might come.

Since Krugman would pull all the radical or progressive zombies from their political graves and hoist them on high red banners in the hope that this array would be accepted as proof that we need to tax and spend some more, we find ourselves with our heads held high and his pants way down. The fact that he has truncated his clichés and rapt analogies and forged them into a single line tells us that he has abandoned the chance for his party to gain more power from the purse and bloat government some more.

Since Krugman is so often wrong, we can use this piece to clearly demonstrate the folly of such reasoning and ‘research’ and summarily flush it down the loo.[13]

Let them eat cake in California and Massachusetts.

That is classic Krugman.[14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25][26][27][28][29][30][31][32][33][34][35][36][37][38][39][40][41][42][43][44][45][46][47][48][49]

rycK

Comments: ryckki@gmail.com



[1]Although Schweitzer was among the greatest contributors to this quest, he also ended the quest by noting how each scholar's version of Jesus often seemed to reflect the personal ideals of the scholar, an observation first stated by Johannes Weiss in 1890, and which continues to be observed in Jesus research (as it does in other historical studies) even today.”http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quest_for_the_historical_Jesus Thus Krugman sought Krugman in the past and found him willing and eager to repeat his performances as defined by the present Krugman.

[3] In honor of that celebrated Communist stooge and liar and winner of the Pulitzer Prize for the NYT. The color RED is used in my essays in honor of Walter Duranty, a saint, if there could be one, in the Marxist Archives of Honor.

He said that these people had to be "liquidated or melted in the hot fire of exile and labor into the proletarian mass". Duranty claimed that the Siberian labor camps were a means of giving individuals a chance to rejoin Soviet society but also said that for those who could not accept the system, "the final fate of such enemies is death." Duranty, though describing the system as cruel, says he has "no brief for or against it, nor any purpose save to try to tell the truth". He ends the article with the claim that the brutal collectivization campaign which led to the famine was motivated by the "hope or promise of a subsequent raising up" of Asian-minded masses in the Soviet Union which only history could judge.” http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walter_Duranty

[5] 1938 in 2010 By Paul Krugman [Emphasis is mine in all quotes.] Published: September 5, 2010

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/06/opinion/06krugman.html?src=me&ref=general

[12] pat·zer (ptsr, pät-) n. Slang A poor or amateurish chess player.[Probably from German, bungler, from patzen, to bungle. http://www.thefreedictionary.com/patzer

[13] loo n : a toilet in England [syn: water closet, closet, WC]

[14] Another Leftist Bondage Scheme for the Bond Gods. Krugman Speaks of the Evils of the Austerians

http://ryckki.blogspot.com/2010/08/another-leftist-bondage-scheme-for-bond.html

[15] Krugman Ignores the Fact that Obama has Trashed the US economy and “Defines Prosperity Down”

http://ryckki.blogspot.com/2010/08/krugman-ignores-fact-that-obama-has.html

[18] Krugman Searches for His Own Truth in an Irish Mirror. He Reflects upon the Mirror and Finds Himself as Originator of the Eternal Solution. Tax and Spend.

http://rycksrationalizations.blogtownhall.com/2010/03/09/krugman_searches_for_his_own_truth_in_an_irish_mirror_he_reflects_upon_the_mirror_and_finds_himself_as_originator_of_the_eternal_solution_tax_and_spend.thtml

[19] Krugman Offers an Essay on Misdirecting Political Power. We can Control the Banks and prevent the Next Crises, but No Details, Just give us Power.

http://rycksrationalizations.blogtownhall.com/2010/03/02/krugman_offers_an_essay_on_misdirecting_political_power_we_can_control_the_banks_and_prevent_the_next_crises,_but_no_details,_just_give_us_power.thtml

[28] Krugman Exhausts His Vocabulary by Monotonously Reciting the Only Two Words He Understands In Economics: Tax And Spend. Let’s Tax the Stock Markets!!

http://rycksrationalizations.blogtownhall.com/2009/11/27/krugman_exhausts_his_vocabulary_by_monotonously_reciting_the__only_two_words_he_understands_in_economics_tax_and_spend_let%e2%80%99s_tax_the_stock_markets!!.thtml

[30] Paul Krugman Juggles Apples and Oranges until He has the Perfect New Economic Stew: Government Subsidies for Idle Workers.

http://rycksrationalizations.blogtownhall.com/2009/11/14/paul_krugman_juggles_apples_and_oranges_until_he_has_the_perfect_new_economic_stew__government_subsidies_for_idle_workers.thtml

[33] Krugman Confuses Bacchus, Baucus and Baloney with the Threshold for Healthcare. Not Enough Big Government in the Latest Episode

http://rycksrationalizations.blogtownhall.com/2009/09/18/krugman_confuses_bacchus,_baucus_and_baloney_with_the_threshold_for_healthcare__not_enough_big_government_in_the_latest_episode.thtml

No comments:

Post a Comment