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These days, however, the main problem comes from the right - from conservatives who, unlike most economists, really do think that the free market is always right - to such an extent that they refuse to believe even the most overwhelming scientific evidence if it seems to suggest a justification for government action.
Paul Krugman -
I predict that in the years ahead Enron, not Sept. 11, will come to be seen as the greater turning point in U.S. society.
Paul Krugman
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Under the gold standard America had no major financial panics other than in 1873, 1884, 1890, 1893, 1907, 1930, 1931, 1932, and 1933.
Paul Krugman -
The great thing about fiscal policy is that it has a direct impact and doesn't require you to bind the hands of future policymakers.
Paul Krugman -
Something terrible has happened to the soul of the Republican Party. We've gone from bad economic doctrine. We've even gone beyond selfishness and special interests. At this point we're talking about a state of mind that takes positive glee in inflicting further suffering upon the already miserable.
Paul Krugman -
The trouble with poverty, as an issue, is that it has basically exhausted the patience of the general public.
Paul Krugman -
Debt increases that didn't arise either from war or from extraordinary financial crisis are entirely associated with hard-line conservative governments.
Paul Krugman -
The world economy is in a nosedive, and understanding what I call "depression economics" - the weird world you get into when even a zero interest rate isn't low enough, and a messed-up financial system is dragging down the real economy - is essential if we're going to avoid the worst.
Paul Krugman
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We know that advanced economies with stable governments that borrow in their own currency are capable of running up very high levels of debt without crisis.
Paul Krugman -
Some years down the pike, we're going to get the real solution, which is going to be a combination of death panels and sales taxes. It's going to be that we're actually going to take Medicare under control, and we're going to have to get some additional revenue, probably from a VAT. But it's not going to happen now.
Paul Krugman -
I've always believed in expansionary monetary policy and if necessary fiscal policy when the economy is depressed.
Paul Krugman -
So, very early reports are that Obamacare exchanges are, as expected, having some technical glitches on the first day - maybe even a bit worse than expected, because it appears that volume has been much bigger than predicted. Here’s what you need to know: this is good, not bad, news for the program... Lots of people logging on and signing up on the very first day... is an early indication that it’s going to be fine, that plenty of people will sign up for the first year of health reform.
Paul Krugman -
Wealthy Americans who benefit hugely from a system rigged in their favor react with hysteria to anyone who points out just how rigged the system is.
Paul Krugman -
Until the Great Depression, most economists clung to a vision of capitalism as a perfect or nearly perfect system. That vision wasn’t sustainable in the face of mass unemployment, but as memories of the Depression faded, economists fell back in love with the old, idealized vision of an economy in which rational individuals interact in perfect markets.
Paul Krugman
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Middle-class societies don't emerge automatically as an economy matures, they have to be CREATED through political action.
Paul Krugman -
So what are the effects of increasing minimum wages? Any Econ 101 student can tell you the answer: The higher wage reduces the quantity of labor demanded, and hence leads to unemployment.
Paul Krugman -
The fact is that the two years or so after 9/11 were a terrible time in America – a time of political exploitation and intimidation, culminating in the deliberate misleading of the nation into the invasion of Iraq. It’s probably worth pointing out that I’m not saying anything now that I wasn’t saying in real time back then, when Bush had a sky-high approval rating and any criticism was denounced as treason. And there’s nothing I’ve done in my life of which I’m more proud.
Paul Krugman -
There's nothing magic about spending on tanks and bombs rather than roads and bridges.
Paul Krugman -
I have friends, political scientists, sociologists, who all share an interest at least in certain kinds of science fiction.
Paul Krugman -
What the Depression teaches us is that when the economy is so depressed that even a zero interest rate isn't low enough, you have to put conventional notions of prudence and sound policy aside.
Paul Krugman
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The next time you hear serious-sounding people explaining the need for fiscal austerity, try to parse their argument. Almost surely, you'll discover that what sounds like hardheaded realism actually rests on a foundation of fantasy, on the belief that invisible vigilantes will punish us if we're bad and the confidence fairy will reward us if we're good. And real-world policy - policy that will blight the lives of millions of working families - is being built on that foundation.
Paul Krugman -
The public has no idea that the deficit has been falling like a stone.
Paul Krugman -
Friedrich Hayek is not an important figure in the history of macroeconomics.
Paul Krugman -
...instead it seems that business - like weight loss - is a subject wherein hope and fear inspire limitless gullibility.
Paul Krugman