Most libertarians may not be familiar with the economist Paul Krugman, and with good reason. Through his column at the New York Times, and his position at Princeton University, Krugman has used his clout as an economist to push a shamelessly partisan leftist agenda. From his use of the 9/11 terror attacks to promote Keynesian economic stimulus, to his promotion of ‘death panels’ in the Affordable Care Act as a means of reducing the deficit, Paul Krugman’s central error is the unscientific confusion of how the world works with how he thinks the world should work. Positive economics, which is a science that seeks to describe the way human beings interact in an economy, and what that economy is, is primarily a descriptive venture. Normative economics, on the other hand, seeks to prescribe the ways human beings ought to act in an economy, and what the ideal economy is. The distinction between the two is often drawn on partisan lines. The right wing are naturally predisposed to hold up the likes of Friedman, Mises, and Hayek as the most positivist and scientific economists, while Paul Krugman is naturally predisposed to hold up himself.
Whatever else he may be, Paul Krugman is certainly a master of projection. Immediately following his proposal that the 9/11 terror attacks be used to justify the age-old left wing Keynesian agenda of increasing government spending, Krugman shares his own smug concerns with his readers:
After the attacks, I found myself wondering whether some politicians would try to exploit the horror to push their usual partisan agendas. Then I chided myself for such an uncharitable thought.
This is not an isolated incident. Numerous commentators have noted Krugman’s prolific rejection of facts and sound scientific methodology in his quest to make the world a better place for government programs and leftist academic hacks, and the work the Krugman Truth Squad are perhaps the most famous. In imitation of their funny, yet effective, approach to weakening the influence of his bombastic and attention-seeking policy recommendations, I have compiled a list of ten Paul Krugman quotes, showcasing some of his most comically false statements, predictions, and hand-waving pronouncements on the subjects of politics and economics:
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Krugman on September 14, 2001, Three Days after the Attack
“[This] terror attack – like the original day of infamy, which brought an end to the Great Depression – could even do some economic good… Now, all of a sudden, we need some new office buildings… rebuilding will generate at least some increase in business spending… Second, the attack opens the door to some sensible recession-fighting measures… Now it seems that we will indeed get a quick burst of public spending” - New York Times
Krugman on Space Aliens as Economic Policy
“If we discovered that space aliens were planning to attack and we needed a massive buildup to counter the space alien threat and really inflation and budget deficits took secondary place to that, this slump would be over in 18 months. And then if we discovered, oops, we made a mistake, there aren’t any aliens, we’d be better off.” - CNN
Krugman on the White House Council of Economic Advisers, 1982, before the Rate of Inflation Fell to 1.18%
“We believe that it is reasonable to expect a significant reacceleration of inflation… at least 5 percentage points to future increases in consumer prices… This estimate is conservative.” - National Review
Telling ABC’s Christiane Amanpour that the Recent Deficit Reduction Panel Recommendations Were Not “Brave Enough”
“Some years down the pike, we’re going to get the real solution, which is going to be a combination of death panels and sales taxes.” - National Review
Krugman Comparing a One-Year Figure (Jobs Created) with a Ten-Year Figure (Total Value of the Tax Cut)
“Let’s pretend that the Bush administration really thinks that its $726 billion tax-cut plan will create 1.4 million jobs. At what price would those jobs be created?… The average American worker earns only about $40,000 per year; why does the administration, even on its own estimates, need to offer $500,000 in tax cuts for each job created?” - National Review
Krugman on the Internet in 1998
“The growth of the Internet will slow drastically, as the flaw in “Metcalfe’s law”–which states that the number of potential connections in a network is proportional to the square of the number of participants–becomes apparent: most people have nothing to say to each other! By 2005 or so, it will become clear that the Internet’s impact on the economy has been no greater than the fax machine’s.” - MarginalRevolution.com
Krugman on the Information Economy in 1998
“As the rate of technological change in computing slows, the number of jobs for IT specialists will decelerate, then actually turn down; ten years from now, the phrase information economy will sound silly.” - MarginalRevolution.com
Krugman, in 1998, on the One-Year Productivity Drop that Never Happened
“Productivity will drop sharply this year. Nineteen ninety-seven, which was a very good year for worker productivity, has led many pundits to conclude that the great technology-led boom has begun. They are wrong. Last year will prove to have been a blip, just like 1992.” - MarginalRevolution.com
Krugman Lecturing Germany on Economic Recovery (Where Unemployment Continued to Fall, and GDP Grew at Twice the Rate of the United States)
“Even if you manage to save 80 billion euros — which you won’t, because the budget cuts will hurt your economy and reduce revenues — the interest payments on that much debt would be less than a tenth of a percent of your G.D.P. So the austerity you’re pursuing will threaten economic recovery while doing next to nothing to improve your long-run budget position.” - New York Times
Krugman on His Own Record
“Compare me… compare me, uh, with anyone else, and I think you’ll see that my forecasting record is not great.” - National Review
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Thanks to the Krugman Truth Squad, the National Review Online, Marginal Revolution.com, and (of course) Paul Krugman for the matter of this article.