Deep Matters

Wolfgang talks about deep matters concerning the incomprehensible comprehensibility of the world here. I recommend it, but I've got to respond to his included drive-by on Paul Krugman. He links to this author, who begins:

Paul seems to only have one card these days, but he does play it very, very well.

It's the "nothing is ever enough card" and he got it out again in Sunday's NY Times.

The way it works is this:

(A) Lobby for any and all expansionary policies.

(B) Then, when an expansionary policy get proposed or enacted, pitch a fit and say that it's way too small and will never work.

(C) When said policy doesn't work (which of course could well be because the policy is bogus) scream "I told you so" over and over at the top of your lungs.

Let me see if I understand the charge here: (a) Krugman was guilty of correctly predicting the severity of the crash when his freshwater critics were chorusing "don't worry, it's all right." (b) He also correctly predicted the size of the looming output gap and (c) correctly estimated how large a stimulus would be needed to close it, and (d) politicians ignored this and produced a half-size stimulus, which (e) only closed about 1/2 the output gap.

Clearly Krugman is the guilty one here. And in the country of the idiots, Cassandra and other prophets remain without honor. Oddly enough the right wingers did a lot of prophecy too, but they were all wrong, so that doesn't count.