Paul Krugman’s got it right when it comes to the economic crisis, says Paul Krugman.
The Nobel Prize-winning economist and New York Times columnist responded in a blog post Sunday to his countless critics who claim he’s choosing specific facts and ignoring others to make his case that budget-tightening policies are hurting economies around the world.
His comments come as debate rages in Washington and in Europe over whether slashing spending -- which has led to high unemployment and slowed immediate economic growth in some places -- is the best way to boost economies in the long term.
“Maybe I actually am right, and maybe the other side actually does contain a remarkable number of knaves and fools,” Krugman wrote in the post Sunday.
Krugman faces a chorus of detractors on a regular basis. The latest criticism came from Ken Langone, the CEO of investment bank Invemed Associates and co-founder of Home Depot, who argued on Bloomberg TV that Krugman’s push against focusing on closing the deficit is at odds with the realities businesses face.
Langone joins the company of the Prime Minister of Latvia, conservative Harvard historian Niall Ferguson and an entire website with the URL krugmaniswrong.com in accusing Krugman of having his facts mixed up on deficit reduction and economic growth.
For his part, the left-leaning Krugman has called deficit hawks “remarkably foolish,” and he’s gotten the chance to double down on his criticism in the wake of revelations that one famed pro-austerity study is riddled with errors. Krugman wrote earlier this month that austerity advocates seized on the now-disgraced findings of Ken Rogoff and Carmen Reinhart because they were finding “excuses for inflicting pain.”
“The point is not that I have an uncanny ability to be right; it’s that the other guys have an intense desire to be wrong,” Krugman wrote in his Sunday blog post. “And they’ve achieved their goal.”
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