Krugman with some very interesting observations on the "pain caucus".
http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/06/02/interests-and-ideas/ -----------------------------------------snip On the first point, the pain caucus isn’t being orchestrated in the same way that, say, the cut-entitlements caucus (and it’s not the same thing). For sure, the likes of Pete Peterson etc. are deliberately pushing the line that Social Security must be destroyed; but it’s really hard to see exactly where the line that the Fed funds rate must rise is coming from. Or maybe a better way to put it is that in this case I don’t think there’s a vast hard-money conspiracy; it’s a bad idea bubbling up among many people. Now, none of those people are the sorts who are likely to find themselves, or anyone they know, among the long-term unemployed. So class is certainly a factor. But I find myself in conversations with people I don’t think have a deep urge to inflict pain and/or safeguard the rentier class who nonetheless ask, “But how long can we keep interest rates low? Won’t bad things happen?” Which is not to say that this position makes any sense. What it does reflect, instead, is the pervasive bias toward believing that imposing suffering is good policy. I wrote about this bias a little while back, citing Keynes, who similarly noted the strange collection of motives behind the punishment mentality; yes, one motive was this: That it could explain much social injustice and apparent cruelty as an inevitable incident in the scheme of progress, and the attempt to change such things as likely on the whole to do more harm than good, commended it to authority. But it’s not just simple class interest — which is why arguing with the ideas can make a difference. -raghu. _______________________________________________ pen-l mailing list [email protected] https://lists.csuchico.edu/mailman/listinfo/pen-l
