[KarlInOhio]

99% of the people with PhDs in economics never write anything meant for the general public. Those that do write for the public almost always have axes to grind and those axes are what drive their writing rather than the raw economic data. That is true for cranks like Krugman and brilliant authors like Sowell [no bias in my choices :) ]. Imagine if Dr. Sowell analyzed the data and found that government control of the economy actually was better in the long term... I think he would still rank personal freedom over a few percentage points of GDP. Similarly, Krugman will never admit that individual freedom is better than government economic control no matter how many times the Fed and the Treasury screw up.

[conservatism_IS_compassion]

The main problem is that economics, and certainly macroeconomics is not, by any reasonable measure, simple.

99% of the people with PhDs in economics never write anything meant for the general public. Those that do write for the public almost always have axes to grind and those axes are what drive their writing rather than the raw economic data. That is true for cranks like Krugman and brilliant authors like Sowell [no bias in my choices :) ].

Imagine if Dr. Sowell analyzed the data and found that government control of the economy actually was better in the long term... I think he would still rank personal freedom over a few percentage points of GDP.

Sowell has stated that he was a Marxist during "the decade of my 20s." His experience working as a federal government intern during the summer of 1960 caused him to reject Marxism in favor of free market economic theory. - Wikipedia

In light of which, your counterfactual "imagination" looks a lot like arrogant moral posturing.

Similarly, Krugman will never admit that individual freedom is better than government economic control no matter how many times the Fed and the Treasury screw up . . .

[conservatism_IS_compassion]

The main problem is that economics, and certainly macroeconomics is not, by any reasonable measure, simple.

Basic Economics 3rd Ed:

A Common Sense Guide to the Economy
Thomas Sowell

Applied Economics:

Thinking Beyond Stage One
by Thomas Sowell