I had no more than published the QOTW yesterday, and this one popped up. I’m of the opinion now that NYT economist and columnist Paul Krugman has gone insane, because nobody with any intact cognition would make a statement like this. Even Al Gore hasn’t gone this far, this is in nucking futz territory.
The scene is set on HBO’s Real Time Friday. Krugman is a guest, pitching his book, but at the same time pitching an idea that he’s totally serious about. It involves aliens and scientists and lies to the public on a grand scale, plus a shout out to California’s high-speed rail boondoggle. Here’s the transcript, brace yourself.
PAUL KRUGMAN, NEW YORK TIMES: This is hard to get people to do, much better, obviously, to build bridges and roads and healthcare clinics and schools. But my proposed, I actually have a serious proposal which is that we have to get a bunch of scientists to tell us that we’re facing a threatened alien invasion, and in order to be prepared for that alien invasion we have to do things like build high-speed rail. And the, once we’ve recovered, we can say, “Look, there were no aliens.”
But look, I mean, whatever it takes because right now we need somebody to spend, and that somebody has to be the U.S. government.
Watch the video here: http://newsbusters.org/blogs/noel-sheppard/2012/05/26/krugman-scientists-should-falsely-predict-alien-invasion-so-governmen#ixzz1w5zk6aAO
UPDATE: one commenter thinks he’s being sarcastic or tongue in cheek, here’s my response –
If he had left the comment at that, I’d agree with you, but he added this without saying “I’m joking” or “That’s silly but…”
But look, I mean, whatever it takes because right now we need somebody to spend, and that somebody has to be the U.S. government.
He’s a big boy, he knows the ropes of these interviews, and he didn’t insert an appropriate caveat. – Anthony
UPDATE2: This is now a theme with Krugman. Obviously he stands by his words or he would not have repeated it. See 1:01 in this Aug 14th, 2011 video.
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The signs have been there. In Feb 2011, Krugman pulled another whopper. Paul Krugman’s opinion in the NY Times blamed climate change for the unrest in Egypt.
Dr. Ryan N. Maue wrote then:
Based upon this quote from Krugman:
But the evidence tells a different, much more ominous story. While several factors have contributed to soaring food prices, what really stands out is the extent to which severe weather events have disrupted agricultural production. And these severe weather events are exactly the kind of thing we’d expect to see as rising concentrations of greenhouse gases change our climate — which means that the current food price surge may be just the beginning.
There is no other way to interpret this than “I told you so” from Krugman directly linking climate change and the disparate weather events of the past year or two to food prices and the crises in the Arab world. To various commenters who are defending Krugman religiously, do you doubt that Krugman is linking the events implicitly or explicitly? Remind you, this is the same Nobel prize winner that less than a few hours after Congresswoman Giffords was shot blamed conservatives for the so-called “Climate of Hate“. How does he have ANY credibility at all — especially with anything related to physical sciences?
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Indeed.
h/t to WUWT reader “good business”
Related articles
- Krugman: scientists should falsely predict alien invasion (motls.blogspot.com)
- Krugman: Scientists Should Falsely Predict Alien Invasion So Government Will Spend More Money (newsbusters.org)
- Krugman : Scientists Should Lie – To Force The Country Further Into Debt (stevengoddard.wordpress.com)
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The difficulty lies not so much in developing new ideas as in escaping from old ones.
John Maynard Keynes
Oh yeah, spend some more “government” money, that’s the ticket.
U.S. gov’t debt is now over $138,500 per taxpayer and inflation is …
Print some more money and spend it.
That should help.
Krugman is nutz. World food output is directly proportional to world energy input to the food system. More energy for tractors, and other farming equipment means more food. Even the energy in the powder in an “eskimo’s” rifle ammo, increases his food production, as doe his snowmobile fuel.
So when enviro-wackos force curbs on world energy production, and raise energy costs, they doom some of the world population to starvation and the rest of it to higher food prices.
Take a hard look at Krugman, Hansen, Gore, Mann, Gleick, McKibben, doesn’t it seem possible that something alien has infected their brains, leading to their insanity?
Nucking Futs comes close, but doesn’t go far enough. He is obsessed with the government spending more of money it doesn’t have and there is nothing he wouldn’t have some do, no matter how dishonest, to drive this spending. Alas, the spending won’t work, but he’s hellbent to see that it happens.
I guess if it weren’t so dangerous it would be sad to see.
I think you are off base about his aliens comment. Watch the video, he is obviously being sarcastic. He is making the point that gov’t spending is what will bring us out of the great recession and referencing that it took the arms spending we did just before we entered WW2 to lift us out of the depression.
So maybe an alien invasion would get us off our butts and do the spending he feels is necessary.
If you disagree with Keynes, fine. But you don’t need to distort what Krugman said.
REPLY: If he had left the comment at that, I’d agree with you, but he added this without saying “I’m joking” or “That’s silly but…”
But look, I mean, whatever it takes because right now we need somebody to spend, and that somebody has to be the U.S. government.
He’s a big boy, he knows the ropes of these interviews, and he didn’t insert an appropriate caveat. Sorry, your point fails. – Anthony
If he is serious he is totally barking, if he is not he is totally barking. Why a high speed rail link? Does he think an alien spaceship with warp drive will not be able to catch it?
You can always count on Americans to do the right thing – after they’ve tried everything else.
Winston Churchill (his mother was American)
Krugman has a nasty economics text book which my daughter was obliged to buy for a class. Cost more than $100….It is a tough job ripping off students.
BYZ–
“The difficulty lies not so much in developing new ideas as in escaping from old ones.
John Maynard Keynes”
BYZ, that is an A+ zinger. Well played.
R. Shearer says:
May 27, 2012 at 11:41 am
“Take a hard look at Krugman, Hansen, Gore, Mann, Gleick, McKibben, doesn’t it seem possible that something alien has infected their brains, leading to their insanity?”
It’s liberalism on parade! Oh, the HUMANITY!!!
Maybe he was talking about Illegal Aliens, and signed up. Naaaa. Watched too many episodes of Ancient Aliens. Yeah, that’s the ticket. Those guys were smart – all those pyramids and stuff. 😉
I think Krugman is trying (poorly) to do a “Haha! Only serious.” He obviously does believe in aliens, and he wants you to believe as well, but he can’t bring himself to mention them, unless he can (clumsily) pass it off as a joke when somebody calls him on his crap.
Let me understand – Krugman (Economics – 2008), Gore (Peace – 2007, Obama (Peace 2008), Carter (Peace – 200e all share a common award – NOBEL Laureates all. Makes one wounder about POLITICS huh?
i need a new drug
one that won’t get debate
one that we consense about
one that lets the fed inflate.
i need a new grant
any crisis will do
one that let’s me rip a rant
keep the lifestyle i’m accustomed to
So…..
What is new about liberals telling a big lie and enrolling Hollywood to perpetuate the lie in order to back door profound policy initiatives favored by the left? This is normal operating procedure for the left, and since many scientist live in the left sphere, they are involved with it. They see it as actually acceptable behavior.
This why the act of lying, particularly within science, is so repulsive and why there should be a campaign of perpetual public ridicule if not criminal prosecution for anyone, particularly scientists who lie or contribute to a lie for the advancement of their own financial, religious, and/or political goals.
Michael Mann is a poster child for this and should occupy the coverage for a permanent legacy publication of known corruptors of truth. Paul Krugman is a lie by design advocate.
Lie at any cost because the end justifies the means….a axiom of the left.
There needs to be a severe penalty for lying. If I know that a person tells lies, I never speak to them anymore. For all you really know about a person is what comes out of their mouth. If that information is false, you are better off listening to nothing at all. Because at least nothing is neutral. Liars needs to be ostracized.
Krugman has also very seriously implied that natural disasters are good for the economy:
http://spectator.org/archives/2012/05/23/a-tsunami-of-bad-economics
Presumably Krugman, since he believes in CAGW, also prays that we will have more CAGW, since it supposedly causes all manner of disasters, and disasters are supposedly good for the economy.
As far as Egypt goes, he has a point. Since the Aswan Dam was built, the silt-bearing flood waters of the Nile no longer fertilize the river flood-plains. As the natural fertility has diminished, more and more expensive fertilizer has had to be imported, raising food prices. the burgeoning populations of the oil-rich states also have to be fed, and are prepared to pay top price to the egyptian farmers, So by stretching a few points Man Made Climate Change has happened in the Nile valley – just not the way Krugman describes.
GoodBusiness says:”Krugman (Economics – 2008), Gore (Peace – 2007, Obama (Peace 2008), Carter (Peace – 200e all share a common award – NOBEL Laureates all. Makes one wounder about POLITICS huh?”
Nope. The “Nobel Prize in Economics” does not exist. Alfred Nobel did not consider Economics a science. The “Nobel in Economics” is actually the Swedish Bank Prize and to call it a Nobel Prize is to go against the wishes of Alfred Nobel.
tomjtx ,
Perhaps , but this isn’t the first time Krugman has mentioned alien invasions . In Feb. 2011 (I think) he wished we were threatened with an alien attack in order to ramp up defense spending , apparently forgetting that we were already fighting two wars . Krugman is insane .
The Dire Menace that requires Marshalling all of society’s resources. Pretty tired device. A better menace, and one that could actually happen, is a large comet on a high certainty collision orbit with the Earth. What if “The Consenous” determines that it is technically feasible to mitigate this hazard, but at the cost of all the productive capacity of the world, what happens? The world is saved but now enslaved?
“He is making the point that gov’t spending is what will bring us out of the great recession and referencing that it took the arms spending we did just before we entered WW2 to lift us out of the depression.”
Government spending sucks money out of productive private uses to throw at what are mostly worthless boondoggles that no-one in their right mind would invest in. WWII ‘saved’ America because it required the rolling back of numerous regulations which had seriously harmed American business, and because most of America’s economic competitors were either bankrupt or bombed to heck afterward.
If you want growth, you need to roll back government spending and regulation, not increase it. All that’s left if you continue down the current path is decline into bankruptcy.
Perhaps Krugman should read up on the Broken Window Fallacy before he spouts more nonsense.
Krugman is one of the many delusional Keynesian economists who believe you can spend yourself out of debt and tax yourself wealthy. He conflates belt tightening with efforts to increase economic activity. His delusion is in his belief that there’s a magical money tree which perpetually sprouts wealth.
The austerity programs in Europe are not designed to grow an economy, they are implemented because they simply don’t have anymore money. They’ve been operating under the Keynesian economics for so long places like Portugal, Italy, Greece and Spain have discovered that there is no magical govt wealth creating tree. Now they’re stuck relying upon Germany to float their economies.
What Krugman doesn’t understand about the U.S., is that our debt payments is interfering with our ability to provide for the social programs he thinks we need. By 2017 (in five short years) our debt payments will exceed $500 billion/year. It will be 1/8th of our entire budget.
So, what is to be done? It’s simple. We go back to the form of economics which worked. Have government get out of the way and create an environment which spurs economic growth from the private sector. Drilling, mining, industrialization. Of course, you’ll never get a leftists to understand this, much less advocate it.
My Real Science comment:
“Paul Krugman advocated on HBO’s Real Time Friday that scientists should get together and lie about an imminent attack to boost federal spending.”
Krugman is a hardened socialist / communist, about as leftist as you get. Some leftists, like Stalin, thought it was good to kill off a large portion of his own population. Compared to that, I guess, the fact that the leftists openly advocate outright lying, is not a big deal.
The leftist zealots behind the climate change scare are predictably also big time supporters of lying to deceive the public:
“It doesn’t matter what is true, it only matters what people believe is true.” -Paul Watson, co-founder of Greenpeace
“We have to offer up scary scenarios… each of us has to decide the right balance between being effective and being honest.” -Stephen Schneider, ipcc author, 1989
“The only way to get our society to truly change is to frighten people with the possibility of a catastrophe.” -Daniel Botkin, Chairman of Environmental Studies at UCSB
“In searching for a new enemy to unite us, we came up with the idea that .. global warming.. would fit the bill…It does not matter if this common enemy is a real one or…one invented for the purpose.” -Club of Rome
I firmly believe that Paul Krugman’s neo-Keynesianism is not economics at all. Economics concerns the attempt to satisfy unlimited demand with limited resources. Neo-Keynesianism is simply an effort to produce as much employment and GDP without regard to value, effect, or efficiency.