Archive for Debt
Sequestration Analysis
Man the CBO makes it tough to figure out what absolute spending levels will be. Their analysis of the December/January budget deal–the one that spared us the horrors of the fiscal cliff–is couched as changes relative to the then-current baseline. So I took that as the August 2012 CBO Outlook, and constructed the following: I [...]
Read morePaul Krugman’s Eyes Are Smiling
In this post, Krugman takes Marco Rubio to task for claiming that government deficits crowd out private investment. Amongst his points, Krugman produces the following scatter plot: …and then comments, “Contractionary policy has proved contractionary.” Wait a second. Look at that chart. Even on its own terms, it’s not nearly as obvious as Krugman makes [...]
Read moreDean Baker vs. Dean Baker on Government Debt and Interest Rates
On Monday Dean Baker was upset that Robert Samuelson thought the two-decade Japanese experiment in stimulus policies should somehow be taken as a warning note against stimulus policies. Baker wrote: Whether Japan’s debt is “excessive” can be debated, but it certainly does not have an excessive interest burden. Its interest burden is currently around 1.0 [...]
Read moreThoughts on the New Budget Deal
==> Scott Sumner and Steve Landsburg are none too happy. ==> David R. Henderson takes a different perspective. ==> I come down on the side of the whiners in this IER post, though I understand what David is saying. (I think we’re mostly just disagreeing about what the relevant baseline should be. Compared to 2012, [...]
Read moreLearning From Brad DeLong and Paul Krugman
[UPDATE below.] Rather than have a long series of posts discussing the fallout from my (price) inflation bet with David R. Henderson, I decided to do one comprehensive reply to Brad DeLong and Paul Krugman. I had toyed with not even responding, but two things ruled that out: (1) This isn’t a case of two [...]
Read moreSometimes You Should Look Up the Numbers, Fiscal “Cliff” Edition
I’m working on an op ed on the “fiscal cliff” and just for kicks, I decided to see just how savage these massive cuts in spending would be. Now let me confess, the results shocked even me, so by all means, somebody show me what I’m overlooking… Here’s a snapshot from a table in the [...]
Read moreRowe Ruh Roh
Sorry, I was trying to come up with the analog of a Krugman Kontradiction for Nick Rowe, and this was it… Some of you may recall that I happily linked to Nick Rowe explaining just how nutty was Paul Krugman’s praise of a hypothetical bond vigilante attack on the US. (Remember, Brad DeLong had to [...]
Read moreTwo Genuine Krugman Kuestions
Normally I think I have a handle on the mind of Paul Krugman. People often send me alleged “Krugman Kontradictions,” and while I admire their zeal, I have to tell the eager correspondents, “Nah, I know exactly how Krugman’s fans would reconcile those two positions.” But I am genuinely puzzled by two recent Krugman posts. [...]
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