Debt

Archive for Debt

Dean 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 […]

Thoughts 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, […]

Learning 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 […]

Sometimes 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 […]

Rowe 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 […]

Two 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. […]

There Isn’t a Spending Category Called “Deficit Reduction”

[UPDATE below.] David R. Henderson over at EconLog praised my recent critique of a David Frum article on carbon taxes, but David had one quibble with me. I’m not sure if David and I have a genuine disagreement, or if it’s just a matter of him not understanding what I was trying to say. Let […]

So Simple! We Just Need to Create Two Platinum Coins Worth $1 Trillion Each

This is a real news article: If President Obama wants to avoid an economic calamity next year, he could always show up at a news conference bearing two shiny platinum coins, each worth … $1 trillion. That sounds wacky, but some economists and legal scholars have suggested that the “platinum coin option” is one way […]