Posted on 09/07/2012 6:39:33 AM PDT by lbryce
Bill Clinton’s speech at the Democratic National Convention was a remarkable combination of pretty serious wonkishness — has there ever been a convention speech with that much policy detail? — and memorable zingers. Perhaps the best of those zingers was his sarcastic summary of the Republican case for denying President Obama re-election: “We left him a total mess. He hasn’t cleaned it up fast enough. So fire him and put us back in.”
Great line. But is the mess really getting cleaned up?
The answer, I would argue, is yes. The next four years are likely to be much better than the last four years — unless misguided policies create another mess.
In saying this, I’m not making excuses for the past. Job growth has been much slower and unemployment much higher than it should have been, even given the mess Mr. Obama inherited. More on that later. But, first, let’s look at what has been accomplished.
On Inauguration Day 2009, the U.S. economy faced three main problems. First, and most pressing, there was a crisis in the financial system, with many of the crucial channels of credit frozen; we were, in effect, suffering the 21st-century version of the bank runs that brought on the Great Depression. Second, the economy was taking a major hit from the collapse of a gigantic housing bubble. Third, consumer spending was being held down by high levels of household debt, much of which had been run up during the Bush-era bubble.
always led by a housing boom — and given the excess home construction that took place during the bubble, that just wasn’t going to happen. Meanwhile, households were trying (or being forced by creditors) to pay down debt, which meant depressed demand. So the economy’s free fall ended, but recovery remained sluggish.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
IF THERE'S ANYTHING REMOTELY SANE AND LEVEL-HEADED ABOUT WHAT KRUGMAN JUST SAID PLEASE SEND IT TO THE KRUGMAN FOR PRESIDENT 2016
Spoken like a true award winning economist/ Obama apologit.
Krugman and Obama both won Nobel Prizes for the same thing: BEING WRONG ALL OF THE TIME.
Nobody will remember Clinton’s speech in a week, let alone 1 year. The transcript itself is a good insomnia home remedy. More likely to hear further on Clint Eastwood and chairs than any bit of trivial rambling errata from the other old guy at the conventions, vouched in the course of a pointless self-regarding oration.
What color is the sky on Planet Krugman? He’s not looking at the same reality I am.
Krugman is the problem. Three generations of deficit spending, uncontrolled borrowing, unfunded entitlements, non sustainable debt and governmental restraints on productive capitalism has led to economic catastrophe. Krugman and his liberal political acolytes have bought us misery. His ilk, Bernacke, and the rest of the so called economic gurus have worsened the situation. Their financial gimmickry is meant to maintain the non productive consumption and the faux lifestyles. They are merely squandering more capital. Krugman is a dangerous schizoid with undue influence. Bernacke will be judged by historians as the worst public official ever to be appointed to high office.
Krugman is a unethical economist who purposely lies about the underlying stats to support his always wrong conclusions.I think he may have slept through Economics 101. Ever notice the guy never looks anyone in the eye when he is lying which is pretty much always
The first thing needed to clean up the economy is to get rid of economic suicide bombers like Krugman.
Trouble is, the guy saying this [Clinton] is the one most responsible for the mess. It was his administration that blew Carter's CRA up into monstrous proportions and led to the catastrophic overleveraging of Fannie and Freddie.
Sure, you're not. Suuuuuuuuuuuuure.
Hmm. Let us carefully examine a possible example of "misguided policies".
Paul Krugman Calls for Space Aliens to Attack EarthPAUL KRUGMAN, NEW YORK TIMES: Think about World War II, right? That was actually negative social product spending, and yet it brought us out.
I mean, probably because you want to put these things together, if we say, "Look, we could use some inflation." Ken and I are both saying that, which is, of course, anathema to a lot of people in Washington but is, in fact, what fhe basic logic says.
It's very hard to get inflation in a depressed economy. But if you had a program of government spending plus an expansionary policy by the Fed, you could get that. So, if you think about using all of these things together, you could accomplish, you know, a great deal.
If we discovered that, you know, 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 –
ROGOFF: And we need Orson Welles, is what you're saying.
KRUGMAN: No, there was a "Twilight Zone" episode like this in which scientists fake an alien threat in order to achieve world peace. Well, this time, we don't need it, we need it in order to get some fiscal stimulus.
Yes, massive Keynesian spending based on a lie would be one of those massive mistakes... kind of like the entire Obama budget.
:PAUL KRUGMAN, NEW YORK TIMES: Think about World War II, right? That was actually negative social product spending, and yet it brought us out.”
Only a complete moron could claim that U.S. military expenditures during World War II, and their decisive role in the defeat of Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan, had negative social value.
Literary fellatio
Krugman.....he’s really smart....didn’t he win Best of Show in a cat show in Peoria?
But then, Krugman was always full of...sheep dip.
So is he now admitting that Roosevelt and his social policies did not get us out of the Great Depression...rather, war did?
If Paul Krugman knows ANYTHING about Economics 101,then I’m the GREATEST BRAIN SURGEON in THE WORLD!What’s goint toget”MUCH BETTER IN THE NEXT 4-YEARS”?THE MESS???????????
Krugman joins the Choom Gang.
take another chug, Krug.
“History lessons: Romney vs. Obama” (Economist: Reagan Turned Around Worse Economy in only 4 years)
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2927475/posts
No president’s second term is better than their first...ever.
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