The Optimism Cure

Paul Krugman (Wikimedia)

The New York Times:

Mitt Romney is optimistic about optimism. In fact, it’s pretty much all he’s got. And that fact should make you very pessimistic about his chances of leading an economic recovery.

Read the whole story at The New York Times

Comments

[mamacat]

03:53 AM on 09/26/2012

Another wonderful essay from Prof. Krugman. Thanks, doc.

My two favorite living journalists are Prof. Krugman and David Brooks. I don't always agree with what they have to say, but they usually have something to say that is worth thinking about.

[spiralskydancer]

11:53 PM on 09/25/2012

Paul...no matter who is elected you will still be on the outside looking in.

[mamacat]

03:53 AM on 09/26/2012

By his choice.

[VoteThemAllOut]

11:17 PM on 09/25/2012

The bet think Mitt has is Krudmann is not on his side.

[Eliott Terrance]

10:48 PM on 09/25/2012

Krugman is a National Treasure!

[Robert Buttons]

11:03 PM on 09/25/2012

Any specifics or do you just want to spew sweet nothings?

[Eliott Terrance]

11:08 PM on 09/25/2012

He's one of the few columnists today providing sound economic advice. And he's smart. Must be why he won The Nobel Prize in Economics. I'm glad he teaches at Princeton.

[radiojunkie]

07:55 PM on 09/25/2012

"By the way, in saying that our prolonged slump was predictable, I’m not saying that it was necessary. We could and should have greatly reduced the pain by combining aggressive fiscal and monetary policies with effective relief for highly indebted homeowners; the fact that we didn’t reflects a combination of timidity on the part of both the Obama administration and the Federal Reserve, and scorched-earth opposition on the part of the G.O.P."

Moral hazard, lol. The Bush holdover and holdout at Fannie and Freddy suffers from the same limitations as Alan Greenspan and Hank Paulsen before the housing-bust.

Greenspan and Paulsen have since dined on fine crow before committees and admitted moral hazard thrives under self-regulation.

Moral hazard is indeed an important component of the free market. But we can't impose arbitrary suffering on homeowners while the folks who caused the mess regulate themselves.

Reform Bush policies that deregulated and defunded enforcement of the housing industry. Once that's in place, lenders make impose moral hazard considerations all they want.

[spkninglsh]

01:07 PM on 09/25/2012

With his roll down windows on airplanes idea, Mitt now has 2 things going for him.

[mamacat]

03:56 AM on 09/26/2012

He doesn't fly commercial (heaven forbid!), but if he did, and if I found myself on the same plane, I would be very worried if he started trying to open the window.

Note to self: if on same plane with Romney, don't sit near him.

[Charles W Noble]

12:26 PM on 09/25/2012

Paul Krugman is truly rare in his ability to debunk myths. Unfortunately, our society is packed with PERVASIVE FALSE BELIEFS that need to be challenged. Paul Krugman is one of the rare ones who have the boldness to take that challenge on.

[Robert Buttons]

11:04 PM on 09/25/2012

Pervasive false beliefs? Like preparing for an alien attack will solve our economic woes?

[Charles W Noble]

10:34 AM on 09/26/2012

I don't think you know the difference between a "belief" and a "thought experiment". Slow down and think a bit before you write, it will help you slowly walk away from poisonous groups like the tea party...it's OK, you'll be just fine...

[Joel Racicot]

11:26 AM on 09/25/2012

"Yet here comes Mitt Romney, declaring, in effect, “I am the confidence fairy!”
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If the confidence fairy is fairy godmother of confidence men, then that describes ol' Mitt to a tee.

[maoticamison]

10:28 AM on 09/25/2012

“My own view is,” he declared, “if we win on November 6, there will be a great deal of optimism about the future of this country. We’ll see capital come back, and we’ll see — without actually doing anything — we’ll actually get a boost in the economy.”

We’ll see capital come back, and we’ll see — without actually doing anything



Damn!!!..".We will probably give you some of that capital back...maybe...I can't promise, but it's possible...you know, if there's money in it...why in the world do you think we took the capital?(Question mark...).Now Bend Over...(No question mark...).

[ORAXX]

08:26 AM on 09/25/2012

Romney's plan for the economy, if you can call it a plan, is nothing more than the second coming of George W. Bush. Give Mittens a big tax cut and a miracle will happen, just you wait and see. And, if it doesn't happen right away, just wait a little longer.

[Peaceandwar]

05:21 AM on 09/25/2012

Supply side economics is the creation science of the economics profession. I'm glad intellectuals like Krugman and Joe Stiglitz are speaking out against this BS.

[crankyontheleftcoast]

10:29 PM on 09/24/2012

I agree with Krugman about the Guard Our Privileges party's magical thinking about pretty much every issue, not just the economy. The GOP reminds me of an old cartoon where two scientists were writing on a blackboard trying to force-fit the uncooperative facts into the outcome they wanted. They finally solved the problem by inserting into the middle of the formula a box in which they wrote "and then a miracle occurs". The GOP says a miracle will occur if we elect them, despite all historical evidence to the contrary.

[kimhoulian]

06:16 PM on 09/24/2012

Romney has one thing going for him and it has everything to do with the skin tone of his parents and skin tone of his wife. I can only hope the the majority of the electorate will require more that a lighter foundation

[crankyontheleftcoast]

10:32 PM on 09/24/2012

I agree. It's just hysterically funny to watch the social conservatives having to decide between a white Mormon and a black Protestant.

[kimhoulian]

11:01 PM on 09/24/2012

LOL awesomely stated

[Snoopwith Camel]

05:52 PM on 09/24/2012

Romney wasn't being optimistic, he was making a veiled promise that if he gets in he will allow corporations to repatriate untaxed offshore profits tax free. (Without any guarantees, he suspects they may create jobs)

[getsit]

06:21 PM on 09/24/2012

They got a break last time with the promise they would create jobs. It created more wealth for them, gave them cash to send MORE JOBS OVERSEAS and lay off employees here.

It did create jobs but not for Americans. We cannot believe anything they say because the only promises they make are the ones that they can break.

[maoticamison]

10:29 AM on 09/25/2012

Thank you.

[ClevelandTom]

04:59 PM on 09/24/2012

Anyone reading Krugman for the past year or two knows that his line of logic is pretty simple:

The economy and job growth is slow because there is a lack of demand for goods and services.
That lack of demand is caused by a combination of 1) high unemployment and slow wage growth, 2) servicing personal debt built up during the housing bubble, and 3) the slow housing market.
To get the economy moving faster, Krugman has called for more stimulus spending to address #1 and stronger measures to deal with #3.

Bloomberg did a survey 80 prominent economists and more than 70 of them (forget the exact number) called for measures similar to what Krugman suggests.

Krugman is about the only economist I know of that has a weekly column in a major newspaper, so I guess that is why he attracts so much attention. But the fact is that his ideas relative to fixing the slow economy are quite mainstream and are not radically leftist, despite the claims otherwise of the right wingers that post here.

[markb3699]

06:24 PM on 09/24/2012

I agree. His ideas are pretty much economics 101. But because he's a liberal, he gets grief from the right.

[Robert Buttons]

08:10 PM on 09/24/2012

Econ 101??? Preparing for a pretend alien invasion is mainstream??

[CTDFalconer]

12:40 AM on 09/25/2012

Now you're just being obtuse. That was just a little thought experiment (you know what thought is, right?) to illustrate the point that government spending can spur economic activity. Pretty simple, really.