Let's think of the economy as a body that has become ill. The economic doctors rushed in and were so worried about what might happen to the banks, corporations and who knows what else that they decided to not let the illness run its course, not let the immune system do its work, not let the patient go through the illness. No, they decided to pump all sorts of medicine into the patient thereby short circuiting the patients immune system. Bad debts were papered over (with printed money), banks that should have gone under thereby flushing bad toxins out of the system were kept alive, "investors".read speculators should have felt the pain of losses, etc. No the economic doctors didn't allow the cycle to go forward and perhaps damage some of the assets of donors and friends. So the donors and friends were saved. Workers who would have lost no matter which course was taken were lost in any event.
Fast forward. Now we have a patient on life support. A patient that was not allowed to flush the toxins, whose immune system was not bolstered by fighting the infections of derivatives, shady banking, leveraged you name it. So here we are. Krugman sounding like the song aimed at LBJ during the VietNam war. "We are waist deep in the big muddy and the big fool says to push on." Keep the printing presses going 24/7 if necessary: victory is at hand. Or perhaps even better "prosperity is just around the corner". Arthur From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Ed Weick Sent: Tuesday, April 30, 2013 8:46 AM To: RE-DESIGNING WORK, INCOME DISTRIBUTION, EDUCATION Subject: Re: [Futurework] Capitalism is killing our morals, our future - MarketWatch I don't understand all of this negativity about Krugman. I read him quite regularly and find that he has interesting and thought provoking things to say. Essentially, he's a Keynesian and though Keynes is a little dated now, he still offers some solutions. However, the economy would likely have to be reset considerably to apply those solutions. The resetting process would have to find a strong reason for spending. Central bankers have seen to it that there is plenty of money at hand and interest rates are as flat as they can be. Still nothing is happening. Neither the private sector nor the public sector are inclined to do very much. Perhaps we need a war? The huge amounts of spending required to fight WWII and then rebuild brought about very good economic times for two or three decades thereafter. Many, including, Krugman, have argued that a way to end the current malaise is to rebuild crumbling public infrastructure, but that isn't about to happen. The problem is that our governments are now into austerity and sequestration -- into cutting back or shutting down spending. Thinkers like Krugman are urging an opening up, doing useful things and putting people back to work. I see a lot of merit in that. Ed From: Keith Hudson <[email protected]> To: "RE-DESIGNING WORK, INCOME DISTRIBUTION, EDUATION" <[email protected]>; [email protected] Sent: Tuesday, April 30, 2013 6:46:28 AM Subject: Re: [Futurework] Capitalism is killing our morals, our future - MarketWatch At 06:01 30/04/2013, you wrote: -------> >(MS) Afterthought: Maybe Krugman is more like Tiresias than Cassandra. Though he doesn't have to transform into female form. It's said that Mrs. Krugman is the instigator of his op-eds. Keith me> Arthur wrote: me> me>> I don't perceive professor Krugman as a whiner but more as a me>> Cassandra. me> me> That's my perception, too. REH> Actually REH wrote that. Ummmmm.... Lemme see here...Ooop, right. Sorry. So I missed Arthur's squib, too, which was to follow your above-misattributed remark with: Arthur> Yes someone who can't get enough of the spotlight. So Krugman is a sort of prima donna? Hogging the spotlight, upstaging the other figures in the drama? Well, I dunno. If he just put out stuff equitably reasoned in the highly qualified propositions and tentative hypotheses of an academic paper on economics, most people, even readers of the NYT, would never wade through it. At least he writes readable prose, readable enough to merit criticism. Better than extemporaneous rants posted to U-tube. Afterthought: Maybe Krugman is more like Tiresias than Cassandra. - Mike -- Michael Spencer Nova Scotia, Canada .~. _______________________________________________ Futurework mailing list [email protected] https://lists.uwaterloo.ca/mailman/listinfo/futurework
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