Chris Kleponis/CNP via ZUMA
Paul Krugman has a couple of questions for his fellow economists:
But my question is, why aren’t we seeing an open letter from right-leaning economists calling on Trump to lay off the Fed? After all, demanding an easy money policy when unemployment is 3.7% is a lot more likely to cause inflation than easing at 9.4%. But, crickets 3/
— Paul Krugman (@paulkrugman) December 26, 2018
This goes hand in hand with denouncing deficits when the economy really needed fiscal support to being just fine with them when they result from tax cuts for corporations and the wealthy, even though now would be a good time to rein in debt 4/
— Paul Krugman (@paulkrugman) December 26, 2018
As usual, Krugman doesn’t understand. Right-wing economists were calling for hard money in 2010 because the president was an obviously inexperienced Democrat likely to run the economy off the rails with his Democratic big-spending ways and tolerance for huge deficits. That was a totally reasonable position regardless of how deep our recession was.
Today, by contrast, the economy is in the hands of a Republican with 40 years of business experience who has shown himself to be a master of financial markets. And sure enough, he’s opposed to more spending except for defense and the wall and welfare for farmers affected by his trade war with China. Also, he cut taxes on corporations, which shows a real understanding of the fundamentals of the econonmy, and he tweets frequently about the dangerous deficits caused by the tax cut. This ability to keep multiple conflicting thoughts in his brain at once is the mark of a man with a Wharton degree and a sophisticated understanding of economics who can be trusted not do the right thing and should be given plenty of rope to do it.
Everything good now? Do we all understand why Obama needed to be reined in as a dangerously profligate Democrat while Trump can be given plenty of leeway because he’s a tightfisted Republican who won’t abuse his authority? Excellent.
