Thank you! I'll look into that as a possible Root Cause for the Death of Critical Thinking in the US.
Really!

Would someone please ask Krugman about the profitability of the last few companies HE ran?

This is why I say we need two words, one for the theory and the other for the strawman representation of it. We have been in a tepid expansion for years and should be moving toward running a surplus.
People supporting the continued borrowing aren't doing it because of a mis-application of Keynes. They're doing it for the same reason people run up credit cards unintentionally.

Keynes gets a lot of blame, but he didn't espouse making a habit of runaway spending and excessive debt. His suggested TEMPORARY injection of cash as a stimulus was intended to kick start a stalled economy, not become an addiction.

"If you produce X more aggregate demand but consume more than >X in aggregate debt then what have you gained?"
You gain the output of factors of production that would have gone unused and wasted.

Krugman is extremely clever at convincing people that his esoteric illusions are real. Many "mystically brilliant" people had or have had many followers.

If you produce X more aggregate demand but consume more than >X in aggregate debt then what have you gained? Or if the spending is actually in an error where it makes it appear there is real demand and need for Y when in reality Y (like some types of solar power compared to say natural gas) is inferior. So there are secondary losses from misallocation of wealth. Not to mention the obvious that that "wealth" was taken by force from the productive in case of government spending and all the manifold costs that that causes.

Last I checked consumers are spending about 1.25 of earnings. That is they are taking on more debt of various kinds, again. And they are encouraged to do so "for the good of the economy". How sick is that?

I have accepted no such thing. I believe in production as the engine of prosperity - producing more value than was consumed in producing it.

I don't see that Krugman is brilliant. Oh he is great at deep arcane math. But his fundamentals are quite wrong. Being brilliant he does a brilliant job of rationalizing them. Sad really.

How incredible is it that it is claimed that 70% of GDP is consumer buying and 23% is government spending. Which part of that has anything to with production? I guess it is hidden somewher in the other 7%.

With GDP computed this way they have to push for more and more consumer and government spending to improve GDP. Total madness.

argh! . it's presenting an enormous problem for good parents
all over this nation. -- j
.

Pardon me, I am not an "Economic Historian" however I can smell the smoke even if I can't see the flames!

Quoting "statistics" is a little on the bogus side because a skilled "craftsperson" can manipulate the outcome just about any way they want.

reading between the lines of your post, it seems to be embracing a more Keynesian model and implies that private capital gives way to some form of government stimulus. Excuse me if I have mistaken your post.

Your take on the use of private capital to inflate the post 1929 stock market really sounds more like the fact that government by "encouraging" people who cannot afford mortgages to get them with ease, thus inflating the real estate market with a irrational demand for housing. That, in turn caused the great collapse of a couple of years ago. Now they have reinstated the same stupid stimulation making easy (I.e., recently printed) money available to people who cannot afford what they wish to buy.

As I am sure you are aware, another massive bubble is now in scope with these Keynesian/Krugman "fixes". I for one will gladly take my chance with a Free Market approach and to hell with government intervention!

Welcome to Hegelian inspired, public education system (implemented under Kennedy administration). Now children are not taught how to think (I.e., Critical Thinking), but rather, what to think (Progressive Dogma)!!!

Remember, the Hegelian model was adopted by Nazis Germany and Stalinist Russia for their respective national educational systems. Out of the Frankfort School, reading, writing, arithmetic gave way to doctrinaire ideologies such as; Arbor day, Political Correctness and a host of anti-American/anti-Constitutional doctrines. Don't believe me? Check it out!

At least not to the incrementally increasing degree that we see now but especially, to what degree it may become in the not so distant future! We are living in scary times!

The fallacy of the Keynesian model is that they believe that by printing money and the government priming the pump, they will create Demand side spending by we schlubs and that in their theory creates wealth and success.

This stupidity has been tried again and again and the only time it seemed to work as designed was when Ronald Reagan developed his "Spend Bold" strategy of priming the pump by the DoD infusing massive amounts of Federal dollars into purchasing hardware and related services, rebuilding the US military.

This actually did create jobs and "trickled" down throughout the economy. The difference between Obama federal spending and Reagan's was hard goods being purchased that translated into thousands of manufacturing jobs. Obama on the other hand spend billions hiring people to work for the government, producing nothing of value.

That my friends is the difference between a successful president and a presidential wannabe.

Over-the-Hill hippies (or are they now Hipsters?).

Amen Brother!!!

It is obvious that Krugman never subscribed to the Laffer Curve! If he did, he and Keynes would be out of business and the country would be much better off for it!

Back to school Mr. Krugman!!!

As long as there are smart working producers that are producing and innovating, the statists will be able to profess to their faithful masses, "see, government spending is what creates prosperity. Vote for more!"

Well said. I think Adams said essentially the same thing when he noted that government was for a moral people.

Rand echoed that statement via the caricature of Floyd Ferris: "The only power any government has is the power to crack down on criminals. Well, when there aren't enough criminals, one makes them...you create a nation of lawbreakers – and then you cash in on guilt. Now that's the system, Mr. Rearden."

Well said.

See "The Story of Your Enslavement", by stefbot on youtube for my take on this. There are a couple versions. See the one most viewed...

Once again, those who subscribe to Keynes and his economics are making a massive mistake (again).

Just how many times do these socialists have to burn themselves before they realize the stove is hot and that thei9r policies are a dead-end for us all no matter how much Crony-capitalism you throw into the mix?!

Keynes was wrong then and he and Krugman are still wrong today! They have engineered what will be the worst economic collapse in the history of the human race......