...the [UK] government hopes that privatizing the process [of government spending through loan guarantees] will confuse enough people that it can escape blame.It doesn't appear that Krugman gets it, but he is really criticizing U.S. private-public partnerships also.
But let’s also note that funneling funds through the private sector offers an opportunity to lavish favors on friends. Now, to be fair, so does government contracting; but that’s a familiar enterprise, with well-established rules and safeguards in place. This will be something new, which may make it possible to slip in some big giveaways that nobody notices.
So as you can see from the title of this post, it sounds to me as if [the UK's Chancellor of the Exchequer George] Osborne has come up with a new wrinkle in policy that I hereby dub Crony Keynesianism...we should be aware how basically strange it is, and how subject to abuse.
"Crony Keynesianism", it has a ring to it. I think I will use it in the future.
"Now, to be fair, so does government contracting; but that’s a familiar enterprise, with well-established rules and safeguards in place"
ReplyDeleteshould read
"Now, to be fair, so does government contracting; but that’s a familiar enterprise, with well-established friends and cronies in place"
Here I think we call it "Stimulus" and "DOE Loan Guarantees". Like a stopped clock, Krugman is correct once in a while, he just needs to look at the administration he supports, not all the way to the UK. :)
ReplyDeleteLike a previous poster, I'd like to focus on this particular quote:
ReplyDelete"Now, to be fair, so does government contracting; but that’s a familiar enterprise, with well-established rules and safeguards in place."
but point out what a self-deluded hypocrite Krugman is (as if that is any surprise to any of you).