A Note on Strategy: Or, Let’s Not Fumble The Ball, Kids
As some big-ticket pledges roll in, I should stress something: The reason I so unabashedly praised Mr. Krolman’s donation, is that an independent person whom I trust contacted me and said he knew Krolman, and that it was a serious pledge.
So of course, if you really want to put up $5k etc., then obviously I welcome you with open arms. But I want to make sure everyone thinks this thing through.
An obvious thing that Krugman and his fans will say is this, “Of course we would blow up you idiot Austrians if this were real. But c’mon, that $100k figure is driven by 50 people who each pledged more than $1,000. If Krugman decided to go through with it, those liars would cancel their pledges at the last minute, after Krugman was on the plane.”
Now I was talking with Tom Woods on the phone about various strategic points; what would we do if Krugman says X, etc. We came up with a very good way to deal with the above situation. (I’m not elaborating because I don’t want to tip off Krugman’s fans to our responses.)
But let me stress, the one way we can end up looking like jerks in this–and Krugman can forever refuse to debate me–is if it turns out that a bunch of the pledges aren’t serious.
So please, if you have put in a big number, because you figured you could pull out at the last minute if Krugman actually went through with it and you wouldn’t actually have to pay, then I urge you to change it to a figure you are seriously willing to pay.
But, for those making big pledges, if you are serious about them, then thank you and let’s keep up the intensity.
Murphy’s Angels: Start the Roll Call
I actually have real work I need to be doing, but how can I not blog about someone who donates one thousand dollars to the campaign?!
Let’s give it up for ARTHUR KROLMAN! Mr. Krolman, please come on up here and accept our heartfelt thanks. In appreciation of your amazing pledge, the spare bedroom in my house will henceforth be known as the Krolman Retreat.
I feel like we should celebrate with music. For some reason the following seems appropriate. Turn it up, Mr. DJ!
If you too would like to be featured on Free Advice, it’s quite simple. We’re a meritocracy here. Just pledge more than $500 and I will mention you personally. (If I miss you, send me an email please.) The amount of effort and humor I put into the post will be directly proportional to the size of your pledge.
Spotlight on R. Chris Jones: The Murphy-Krugman Campaign Breaks $10,000
I think we are going to have to set up a derivative contract at The Point, in which people pledge toasters for various milestones. At this rate, I am going to run out of my personal stockpile.
What can I say? With a little help from my friends–notably Tom Woods–this is spreading like wildfire. The total is now more than $10,000. We are already 10% of the way to the goal I set in the video, and this thing launched Wednesday night. I actually had to shut off the email notification because my inbox was getting unmanageable.
I realize many of you have concerns. “If ONLY Bob had tweaked this one little thing, then this would have been perfect…” You kids are going to have to trust me on this one. It is all proceeding according to plan.
(As always, if you don’t know what I’m talking about, here is the sophomoric video heard ’round the blogosphere.)
If you haven’t done so already, please consider making a pledge. I can say–without much irony–that everyone’s doing it.
Scott Sumner’s Credibility, R.I.P.
The very first sentence of Sumner’s latest post: “If I wrote a macro textbook, I would try to avoid any mention of interest rates or inflation.”
By all means, click on the link to see the context. But not even Scott can salvage a blog post that opens with such a declaration.
Spotlight on Jacob Lovell: The Murphy-Krugman Campaign Breaks $5,000
Somebody send that boy a toaster! A mere 37 or so hours after launching, the campaign to get Krugman to debate me on business cycle theory has now raised $5,000 in pledges.
For those of you who thought it was a funny idea but didn’t want to take 6 minutes to pledge money that you don’t believe would ever be collected–and I’m not being sarcastic, I understand that’s how many of you probably feel–let me just point out that this becomes more noteworthy, the bigger the pledged amount. We need to give op ed writers an excuse to talk about this.
For example, I’m not going to name any names, but I know there are tons of closet LvMI fans working at Cato and other more “respectable” think tanks. They can’t go out on a limb and start chanting, “Auburn! Auburn!” for no good reason.
But, if there is a ton of money on the line, then all of a sudden it is a legitimate news item of interest. So if you haven’t yet pledged, I ask you to do it for the people in DC.
Two more remarks:
(1) Don’t worry, I will resume blogging about other issues.
(2) This isn’t going to my head. I understand full well that the $5,000 raised in 37 hours is not a reflection of your love for me, but your hatred for Krugman.
Latest Update on Murphy-Krugman Debate Campaign
Holy cow everybody, this is really taking off! I was out of commission for a few hours picking up my son, getting my car inspected, etc. (Cute anecdote: I told my son we had to get the car [emissions] inspected because of the government, and he told me he didn’t know what the government was. Ah, youthful bliss.)
The current pledge total is $2507! And you guys (and gals) aren’t nickel-and-diming it, either. Most pledges are $50, and our biggest angel so far is an anonymous $300 donor.
Let me point out two things:
(A) The bigger the total gets, the more this will attract others. For example, nobody at National Review would blog this right now. But if the total got up to $40,000, then somebody might, especially if Krugman had made some dumb comment about it.
(B) Let me reiterate how this works: It’s not even the case that The Point takes your money and holds it in escrow. Your credit card DOES NOT GET BILLED UNTIL KRUGMAN AND I ACTUALLY DEBATE. So it’s truly an issue of, “Would you be happy to contribute $x, in the state of the world in which Paul Krugman flew down to the Mises Institute and debated for an hour?” And remember, this wouldn’t happen for a few months at the earliest, at which point the dollar will probably be worth half as much as today. So what do you have to lose?
At this point, I am more than happy to pass this along to my free-market (but not Austrian/Mises Institute) buddies. What I’ll do is wait until the 24-hour mark has passed (which will be in a few hours from this writing) and then be able to tell them, “Hey guys, in the first day we raised $y! So help us push this up and light a fire under Krugman.” The total is so high now–and happened so quickly–that I bet I can get some regular econ professors to discuss it in class, just because the concept is so interesting.
Once again, thanks for playing. Y’all come back now.
NOTE: If you are somehow reading this post and you don’t know what I’m talking about, watch this video.
State of the Murphy-Krugman Campaign
Thanks everyone who has donated so far; we’ve got $652 pledged as of this writing.
Incidentally, some of you have probably noticed this video on LRC. It was created before mine, but I hadn’t seen it when I created mine using the same characters.
Now when Peter Thiel donates $10,000 to the campaign, we’re going to get sued. Man it really will be the Facebook movie…
Anyway please pass the link around to your friends. Once we break $1000 I will go ahead and send it to people outside the Mises orbit. They will get the idea behind it, and will want to see Krugman sputter, but they are more likely to donate if they see a solid core of support already behind it.
Pledge Your Support for the Murphy-Krugman Debate!
Last week I saw the Facebook movie and got all fired up. On the car ride home this idea occurred to me. Now I just wait for Sean Parker to see this video and I’m golden.
To see the specifics of the campaign (and to donate), click this icon:
To see some of Murphy’s critiques of Krugman on business cycle theory, see here and here.
To see Murphy’s song about Krugman, click here. (If it matters, yes, that’s Murphy singing.)
Final note: Yes I am referring to myself in the third person, as an arrogant running back would do at a press conference. But some non-regular readers might see this post and I don’t want them to be confused.
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