Debt

Archive for Debt

Steve Landsburg Thinks the Current Debt Level Is Juuuuust Right

Steve Landsburg and I can have a perfectly civil discussion on theology. He agrees not to mock me (to my face) for thinking a guy can walk on water, and I don’t make fun of him for worshipping irrational numbers. But when it comes to government debt, I think Steve and I might just have […]

DeLong Plugs Chink in Krugman’s Armor on Treasury Crash

You may recall that Krugman recently argued that an attack by the “invisible bond vigilantes” (the opposite of the confidence fairy, for those keeping track) would actually be good for the US economy, because it would weaken the USD and thus boost Aggregate Demand. I pointed out the problem with in normal English here. But […]

No Dr. Krugman, a Treasury Crash Would Be Bad for the US Economy

This is my article today at The American Conservative. Let me just quote what Krugman is saying, to entice you to read my response. There’s a bit of a plot twist in the article, so I don’t want to spoil the fun by quoting it here. Anyway here’s Krugman: [Krugman writing:] We know what a […]

A Qualified Defense of Big Bird

Steve Landsburg (over email) did not agree with me that Krugman was wrong in the Great Debt Debate, allowing Ken B. and Gene Callahan to run victory laps. As punishment for this stance, I must now criticize a recent Landsburg blog post. (Sorry Steve but actions have consequences, as you should know by now.) Anyway […]

Did Matt Yglesias Just Refute Keynes and Krugman?

It used to be the case that after a natural disaster, we could expect the following: 1) Pundits and even some economists would say that despite the human tragedy, the silver lining was that the disaster would be “good for the economy.” Then, due to the efforts of Henry Hazlitt, it used to be the […]

Callahan’s Unsustainable Attacks on Nick Rowe

Gene has been annoying me in the debate on a topic that shall no longer be mentioned on this blog (for calendar 2012 at least), with post titles suggesting that Nick Rowe is unfamiliar with the history of economic thought. Then in this post Gene accused Rowe of “arrogantly insisting” on the importance of his […]

My Final Word (This Generation): The DEBT Really Is Fundamental

If you have begun skipping these, I ask you to read this final word from me. This is new stuff.–RPM OK kids don’t worry, this is going to be out of my system now, unless Krugman or somebody puts up something new. But I really wanted to illustrate the epiphany I had last Friday, which […]

Illustration: Today’s Generation Eating More at Expense of Next 65 Descendants

[UPDATE below.] OK kids get a cup of coffee and study this thing: I spent a decent amount of time making sure the above works. I confess I didn’t actually fill in the whole table; I just did the beginning, then skipped to the end and worked backwards. But I’m pretty sure I could fill […]