The Gift that Keeps on Giving:
Paul Krugman
Paul Krugman — NY Times Opinion columnist and one of the silliest geese in this flock that is humanity — has apparently written another humorous piece entitled “Beware Economists Who Won’t Admit They Were Wrong” (No backlink because I don’t want to give clicks the NY Times or Krugman).
My favorite response to the piece came from researcher James Bianco.
Have I read the piece?
Of course I haven’t.
I read work that improves my intelligence not insults it.
But I did enjoy reading some responses to it, one of which came from Dan Morehead, Managing Partner at Pantera Capital.
The following is a LinkedIn post from Morehead in response to the article as well as Krugman more broadly:
The infinite gift that is Paul Krugman.
In October, the American economist posted a tweet claiming:
“The war on inflation is over. We won, at very little cost.”
At that time, I responded:
“Yeah. If you permanently fast, live in a handmade yurt, burn only scavenged wood, and walk everywhere, inflation 'only' degrades your standard of living 2% a year or 80% in a lifetime.”
Although his gift truly is infinite, I promise I’ll wind this down after one last perspective…
“At very little cost”?!?!?
The delusional self-congratulatory line of Krugman’s is simply staggering.
We defeated fascism for less.
The policies he’s bragging about caused the United States to print more money in June 2020 than in the first two centuries after its founding. The U.S. budget deficit that month – $864 billion – was larger than the total debt incurred from 1776 through the end of 1979. [chart 1]
With that first trillion we defeated British imperialists, bought Alaska and the Louisiana Purchase (13 states’ worth of territory), defeated fascism, ended the Great Depression, built the Interstate Highway System, went to the Moon, and some other stuff.
The budget deficit has been out of control since that month. A quick glance at the graph shows it ain’t “very little”.
The U.S. deficit in 2020 – as a percentage of GDP – was the same as the average annual deficit the United States incurred while fighting World War II. That’s simply crazy.
The budget deficit as a percentage of GDP used to be much lower than the unemployment rate. Just as important, it rose and fell with the economy and the rate of unemployment. [chart 2]
Krugman-endorsed policies are now disconnected with what has worked for centuries. We now have massive deficits in boom times – even with record low unemployment.
Stay long crypto (Editor’s note: I’d suggest “bitcoin (BTC)” instead of “crypto” here) until they get the gold line below the white line. [chart 3]
Frank again.
Cancel your subscription to The New York Times and use that money to dollar-cost average (DCA) into BTC. (Not financial advice. I’m joking. Kinda. Not really. I have to be joking because I’m not a financial advisor, and nothing I share in this newsletter is financial advice.)
Goodbye!
Best,
Frank
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