Paul Krugman is getting sillier and sillier these days. He’s supposed to be an economist, and not long ago some people in Sweden gave him an award for his economic work. So why would he suggest that economic incentives just don’t matter?
The New York Times columnist bashed Republican Senator Jon Kyl for stating that generous unemployment benefits can reduce the incentive to look for new work. Krugman says that this isn’t the textbook view of things shared by himself and the Democrats. “What Democrats believe,” Krugman says, “is what textbook economics says.”
Gee. So what does textbook economics say?
James Taranto of the Wall Street Journal actually checked a textbook in economics. According to this textbook, “Public policy designed to help workers who lose their jobs can lead to structural unemployment as an unintended side effect.… In other countries, particularly in Europe, benefits are more generous and last longer. The drawback to this generosity is that it reduces a worker’s incentive to quickly find a new job.”
Interesting. So who wrote this textbook? Yes, that’s right: Paul Krugman.
This partisan fellow, Krugman, often seems to go out of his way to be contradictory as possible. Does he believe his own babbling? Or is he just trying to get a rise out of us?
Or is it to please his editors over at the Times?
Call it an economic incentive.
This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.
8 replies on “Krugman’s Crazy Crotchets”
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Two items that you left out.
1. he was involved with Enron (Rememebr that firm?).
2. there is a co-author- who, in reality, is his wife.
Forgot to mention- also,
The two statements- (1)- he worked for Enron and (2) the co-author is his wife, makes him, in my view, even less credible.
or, perhaps he is suffering from selective memory disorder- he remembers what he wants to.
Krugman writes for the NY TIMES and writes stuff that contradicts his own views?
Both the TIMES and Krugman have selective vision, tending to the left. They will censor stuff that isn’t sufficiently leftist.
Perhaps Krugman was infected when he worked for the utterly corrupt Enron (his take: $50,000, as I recall; his “dodge”: I was an advisor; oh), which was kind’a like the energy version of global warming.
If one takes Krugman seriously, one only has oneself to blame if one is upset by what this idiot has to say.
(Many people have decided to spell “advisor” as “adviser.” I decided to stick with the old version. Just an ol’ fashioned type’a guy.)
How to tell Mr. Krugman’s viewpoint:
1. stick your finger in your mouth’
2. hold the wet digit aloft
Ah yes, Paul Krugman. Part of the uber left concept that a socialist America is best for the world since once done, there will be no America & we can all become part of his favored one world order.
The man carries water for those who seek to destroy this nation.
Imagine if you can, he backs the president who extols all of his health care plans’ virtues, especially the reducing costs, reducing premiums, reducing waste fraud & abuse, increases the number of people covered by over 30 million, and.…. ready.….….
costs us less.
For an encore, maybe we can get him to pull a rabbit out of his a**!!!!!!
Obama says doing nothing is a vote for the status quo. That is ANOTHER LIE! Changes are able to be developed, without any of the massive federal bureaucracy Obama wants to impose on us. He evades answering questions, by playing on suffering while ignoring the suffering he is about to dump on us. He also spends a great deal of interview time filibustering to avoid directly answering questions & babbling about his great ideas.
Boy are he & Krugman birds of a feather.
And the point of your article is what??
Is it to take down Paul Krugman? Is it to argue that unemployment benefits should be reduced or even ended? Or is it just to write something because it’s Wednesday and you have nothing else or better to offer?
How true this article is. I have been trying to get some friends to go find a job since they were let go more than a year ago. Their reason for not looking — they are waiting for their unemployment to run our!