"the economy is not like an individual family."
As Paul Krugman put it in The Story of Our Time, his Monday New York Times column, "may be the most crucial thing to understand" in what he offers in his "refresher" necessary to understand our current economic problems.
It is clearly written, very much to the point. It is yet another example of why I wonder when Krugman will get the Pulitzer for commentary he deserves every bit as much as his Nobel Memorial Prize for Economics.
He explains that crucial point thusly: And of course that is what we have experienced. It doesn't matter, as he points out, whether we did so voluntarily or were forced to by our creditors, whether it was unwillingness or inability to spend, the result is the same"
It is clearly written, very much to the point. It is yet another example of why I wonder when Krugman will get the Pulitzer for commentary he deserves every bit as much as his Nobel Memorial Prize for Economics.
He explains that crucial point thusly: And of course that is what we have experienced. It doesn't matter, as he points out, whether we did so voluntarily or were forced to by our creditors, whether it was unwillingness or inability to spend, the result is the same"
The result was a plunge in incomes that also caused a plunge in employment, creating the depression that persists to this day.Wait a minute? Are we going to have to revoke his economist license? Did he just use the dreaded D word? Yes, he said "depression." Forget whether or not the US economy meets the technical definition, it is clear looking at countries like Greece and Spain that attempting to address the economic woes by austerity can easily overcome any technical definitions.But there is, as is always the case with Krugman, so much more.