Paul Krugman Calls for Space Aliens to Attack Earth

NewsBusters ^ | 14 Aug 2011 | Noel Sheppard

[mandaladon]

Oh those whacky liberals.

On Sunday's "Fareed Zakaria GPS," New York Times columnist - and, ahem, Nobel laureate - Paul Krugman actually advocated space aliens attack earth thereby requiring a massive defense buildup by the United States that would stimulate the economy (video follows with transcript and commentary):

KENNETH ROGOFF, PROFESSOR OF ECONOMICS, HARVARD UNIVERSITY: Infrastructure spending, if it were well-spent, that's great. I'm all for that. I'd borrow for that, assuming we're not paying Boston Big Dig kind of prices for the infrastructure.

FAREED ZAKARIA, HOST: But even if you were, wouldn't John Maynard Keynes say that if you could employ people to dig a ditch and then fill it up again, that's fine, they're being productively employed, they'd pay taxes, so maybe Boston's Big Dig was just fine after all.

Oh those whacky liberals.

So in Zakaria's view, the government employing people to do absolutely nothing of value would fix the economy.

If this is the case, why doesn't the government just give money to everyone? The economy, in Zakaria's opinion, would therefore grow at a record pace.

Of course, anyone with even a rudimentary understanding of arithmetic could figure out that the amount received in tax receipts would be far less than what was distributed thereby exploding the nation's debt level in a never-ending spiral that would eventually lead to default.

[bigheadfred]

Yeah, I’m not totally sure, but there may be a massive defense buildup already underway. At least at my house...

[BuckeyeTexan]

Bwahahahaha!

[VeniVidiVici]

KENNETH ROGOFF, PROFESSOR OF ECONOMICS, HARVARD UNIVERSITY: Infrastructure spending, if it were well-spent, that's great. I'm all for that. I'd borrow for that, assuming we're not paying Boston Big Dig kind of prices for the infrastructure.

If you want Union Labor you gotta pay Big Dig prices.

[RowdyFFC]

The space aliens have already landed, have you gotten a really good look at Debbie W-S???

Employing people with tax $’s so they can pay taxes, actually is good logic these aliens.

[Wissa]

Some economists are stuck in the myth that the defense build up of WWII is what ended the depression. It was the fact that the rest of the world was unable to produce food or necessities that ended it. The United States exported our debt to other countries in the form of goods and services. Unfortunately, export opportunities of that type are a once in a lifetime opportunity. Now third world countries make their own stuff and try to sell it to us; cheap.

I'd bet there isn't one person in a thousand that recognizes the windfall that fell into our lap. While we were building up our own productive capacity in support of the war effort, we (along with both our allies AND our enemies) were bombing most of the rest of the world's productive capacity to smithereens.

[griswold3]

Coulda fooled me. All I know is they aren’t like us!

[KarlInOhio]

Krugman just watched Mars Attacks with the aliens disintegrating Congress and tried to develop a new economic theory around his fantasy of turning John Boehner into a scorched skeleton.

More seriously, while some say that WW II ended the Great Depression, what really ended it was the definitive end of WW II. Unlike any improvements during the Depression, which people could write off as temporary and continue self-denial, frugality and non-investment. By having a specific date, V-J day, when the war was over and people expected a big change and an end of rationing the economy started to zoom. And it didn't hurt that every other industrialized country's industrial base was damaged or destroyed. Maybe we could get the aliens to vaporize Chinese factories and Indian call centers.

The closest thing to a V-J day in our near future would be Obama losing in November 2012. I will be finding a nurse to kiss on Time Square if that happens.

[magellan]

Krugman has been hiding in a spider hole the last 10 years. We have significant military spending increases over the last decade due to the Global War on Terror and the recapitalization of our military (F-18E, F-22A, V-22, C-17A, MRAP, Littoral Combat Ships, Virginia class submarines, San Antonio class LPDs.

[Winged Hussar]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Architects_of_Fear

“The world has entered a Cold War-esque setting in which nuclear holocaust appears imminent. In the hope of staving off an apocalyptic military confrontation between nations, an idealistic group of scientists, working at United Labs, plan to stage a fake alien invasion of Earth, in an effort to unite all humanity against a perceived common enemy. “

[mrreaganaut]

Maybe Krugman would support having some airplanes crash into some skyscrapers to create jobs, too. That would surely jumpstart the economy, right?

[RckyRaCoCo]

I agree with your(especially WWII)assessment. Combine it with Wall Street greedy shenanigans and a selfish "want it all, NOW!" society...and you have a perfect storm for economic disaster.

There are people who optimistically think things will turn around(as it has many times in the past)...frankly I think they live in a TV(not real) world...as I don't actually see a realistic pathway out of this particular malaise.

Any type of major austerity measures will be met with resistance(AKA Wisconsin). There are many baby-boomers who(through their own fault/no fault of their own)are going to have to rely on a non-pension source of income in their retirement years...why should we assume that source will(or should) automatically come from the government?

Fear is an effective weapon(especially in a mass entitlement society), and that weapon is used as effectively on the left(socialists)as it is on the right(military industrial complex types).

To solve this problem someone is going to have to think outside the box, WAY outside the box, and this will include the ability to speak truth to power in order for the masses to accept their role/responsibility in trying to put us on a path to recovery(exclude prosperity for the time being, when you are trillion$$$ in the hole).

An effective(domestic source)energy policy, with a clear objective/timetable, could provide that path(especially seeing as many pointed to $150 bl. oil as a culprit during the initial economic slide).

With that said, if Palin/Perry(from oil rich states)could push an effective domestic energy policy initiative...it could propel either to the White House...their opponents would find it hard to explain any other reasonable solution...well, with a straight face anyway.

(Come to think of it, Herman Cain also brought up possible energy policy solutions during the debate).

[pabianice]

Typical Libtard, I know, but nonetheless, consider...

We've been broadcasting out into space for 100 years now. Radio, then TV, then satellite comm. That means that any big, angry, hungry aliens within 100 light years may know that there's a little, primitive planet out there chirping away, with no way to defend itself from advanced aliens. "Humans... it's what's for dinner!"

[tcrlaf]

Krugman covers Economics and politics from “a Gay point of view” for the New York Times.

They don’t call the New York Times Editorial Board “THE GAY MAFIA” for nothing, folks....

[MarkL]

Agreed... The Nobel Prize winning moron Krugman believes that a massive military buildup would be great for the economy... How's that working out for North Korea. How did that work out for the Soviet Union. Someone should remind this "economist" of the "guns & butter" charts they show to freshman students in Econ 101.

Mark

[Liberty1970]

They are really scraping the bottom of the Liberal Ideas barrel.

[ken21]

his cat looks more sentient.

[SunkenCiv]

:’)

[dsc]

[Victoria_R]

Quick, someone liberate the poor cat from his clutches!

[AdaGray]

Another hopeless grasp by an over-educated man with no true skills trying desperately to be relevant.