Quote of the Week

Paul Krugman's name has come up here once before, and it wasn't in the most glowing light. This time won't be a whole lot different. Prof. Krugman is in many ways a brilliant economist (a Nobel winner), but his partisan views unfortunately cloud his reading of many economic issues. That's what's on display here.

This week's QUOTE OF THE WEEK

"There never was a big expansion of government spending."  
                                                 -Paul Krugman, New York Times Op-Ed, 10/10/2010

Oh, Paul, Paul, Paul... come on, buddy. As deceptive political statements go, this one falls somewhere in between "I did not have sexual relations with that woman" and Ahmadinejad's Holocaust denial. That is to say, his statement is at best true on a grammatical technicality, and at worst outright blasphemy and lies. Engage a debate about sources and uses of government spending, future policy choices, and Keynesian economic analysis all you want, but please don't ignore the truth to do it.

This is the truth:

Mr. Krugman, you are a very talented economist. But to deliberately mislead your readers with silly statements like this one is unbecoming and serves only to undermine the public faith. If you have to use deception to make your point, then your point must not be very good to begin with. As a Nobel winner, more is expected of you.

[New York Times]