I keep thinking folks are waking up to the reality of our present state of affairs (in govt spending terms)... I just don't know to what extent... Politics is a messy business... Intellectual honesty takes effort... As, alas, some impressively-credentialed, politically-connected experts are not above massaging even their own [published] perspectives...
For example: A Nobel Laureate economist, known for his strong political leanings, on 1/2/2012 wrote: "We need more, not less, government spending to get us out of our unemployment trap. And the wrongheaded, ill-informed obsession with debt is standing in the way." That very same gentleman, on 3/11/2003 (emerging from recession) wrote; "I'm terrified about what will happen to interest rates once financial markets wake up to the implications of skyrocketing budget deficits." Hmm...
Now granted it's been 9 years between calls, so perhaps our renowned expert has learned that, as he suggests in his '12 column, debt and the deficit just aren't the issues they were back in '03 (even though they're several times larger)...Has he indeed concluded that we can spend our way out of this recession, but couldn't/shouldn't have the last? Or is there some politicking going on here?
I can't help but wonder if Krugman doesn't see himself on the shortlist for public appointment...
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