Quote of the Day
Paul Krugman on why he is rude:
I know that a lot of people wish we lived in a country where debates about things like health care policy were serious, honest discussions of debatable points. I like to hope that by the time I retire I’ll actually live in a country like that. But right now, and surely for years to come, it’s basically facts versus fraud.
How true.
It looks like the issue he is discussing is pretty reasonable. Avik Roy assumed the plans were available to everyone at the listed price; which was wrong.
Doesn’t mean he can’t be reasonable
This is up there with Obama, Sadat, Kissinger.. Krugman has done more damage to economics as a science than anyone in history.
True story.
Idk, Stalin’s economic advisors were pretty bad. The whole kill people who don’t benefit the country economically thing…yeah that was pretty bad.
Krugman doesn’t even hold a candle to them in damaging economics as a science.
Please, that’s like blaming Schumacher for Mao’s communitarian economic policies which killed millions. Their economists were treated like logisticians and too afraid of political repercussions. Krugman doesn’t operate under those conditions, making him all the worse for it.
That’s an interesting goal for someone who spouts inflammatory and openly polarized rhetoric. On par with John Kerry blowing himself up, throwing his medals on the White House lawn and then becoming Secretary of State. It makes me want to faceroll.
Am I the only one who noticed the June 3rd Dilbert cartoon lampooned a trash-talking, “Nobel-winning economist” who looks a lot like a caricature of Krugman?
Yes, that was hilariously accurate.
What about Paul Krugman vs John Stewart?
http://www.thedailyshow.com/watch/mon-january-14-2013/paul-krugman—the-trillion-dollar-coin
He’s correct. Try debating issues that aren’t highly politicized, and where the facts can be shaded to fit your viewpoint (or you ignore studies that don’t agree with what you think).
It’s not to say that he doesn’t engage in it; he does. But it is a legitimate problem.
Consider the debate about if there is a deficit problem, and how to attempt to solve it, with an ordinary individual on the street. It’s likely highly biased, one-sided, and full of a lot of conjectures rather than objectivity.
This quote is certainly ironic in many instances with Krugman’s rhetoric. If you read a lot of his studies he does engage in honest discussions with debatable points…but usually his points that are debatable.
*it’s his points that are debatable
Isn’t it obvious? He’s got the facts, and must patiently deal with other people who invariably behave rudely when his facts puncture their fantasies.
Yada yada yada.
Krugman doesn’t have an original thought here. Nor does he express it with any particular wit. He simply paraphrases this old and far superior conjugation offered up by Bertrand Russell:
1. I am firm, You are obstinate, He is a pig-headed fool.
2. I am righteously indignant, you are annoyed, he is making a fuss over nothing.
3. I have reconsidered the matter, you have changed your mind, he has gone back on his word.