Tuesday, July 10, 2012

Krugman Double Feature Punch Out

Travis Holte emails:

Krugman confronted on Murphy challenge. Hilarity ensues.



Krugman attempts to escape the Murphites by heading to Spain, but runs into this. Writes ZeroHedge:
Forget Ali - Frazier; ignore Santelli - Liesman; dismiss Yankees - Red Sox; never mind Silva - Sonnen; the new undisputed standard by which all showdowns will be judged happened in Spain over the weekend. During a debate on Europe's crisis, Pedro Schwartz (a mild-mannered Spanish 'Austrian' economics professor) took on the heavyweight Paul 'I coulda been a Fed Chair contender' Krugman, and - in our humble opinion - wiped the floor with his Keynesian philosophy. From the medicinal use of more debt to fix too much debt, to the Japanization of world economies and the demand-side bias of every- and any-thing - interested only in the short-term economic growth; the gentlemanly Spaniard notes, with regard to the European crisis, the fact that "Keynesians got us into this mess and now we have to sacrifice our principals so that they can get us out of this mess". Humble and generous in his praise - though definitively serious with his criticism - Schwartz opines: "Often Nobel prize winners are tempted to pontificate on matters that are outside the specialty in which they have excelled," noting "the mantle of authority whereby what ever they say - whether sensible or not - is accepted with resignation from some and enthusiasm by others." Krugman's red-faced anger is evident... 
For 15 minutes of both education and entertainment - this is as good as it gets...
  • Starting from around 35:00 the Spanish professor praises and criticizes in a thoughtful and gentle tone
  • At around 39:00, he addresses the demand-side description of the world
  • Krugman's less-than-happy response (which sparks quite a rowdy argument) begins around 48:20



(ht David Propst)

21 comments:

  1. Wow, Krugman complains of a "personal" attack in his defense when clearly none occured. The gentlemen simply pointed out that Krugman was commenting on topics not related to his Nobel. (not that the Nobel even means much now, when Obama gets one for what he "might" do that tells you everything you need to know about the Nobel committee)

    More importantly though, his arguments are so weak it's truly astounding. He doesn't even draw a distinction between the expansion of the monetary base and price level in descrbing inflation. It's like I'm listening to a 10 year old explain economics....he also concludes that because prices have not increased(substantially?) that the assumption is they never will and then does the same thing in arguing that interest rates will remain low...LMAO! That's right chump, keep printing up the money and let's see how long they remain low....

    I can't believe he has any credibility outside of scalar economics.

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  2. My my Krugman is a little hypersensitive. We seriously need to get that $100,000 raised for the Krugman v. Murphy debate.

    Oh wait, Krugman will probably say that the homeless don't have enough demand for the food that the $100,000 will buy.


    He is such a chump.

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  3. Pedro Schwartz is my new hero.

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  4. Pedro was an absolute gentleman and class act. He also demolished the Krugster. Robert, you've got to interview him next!

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    1. An interview of Schwartz here would be terrific! I vote for it!

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    2. There's quite a good interview of Pedro Schwartz by Alasdair Macleod at goldmoney.com. A pleasure to watch, if for no other reason than being able to observe a discussion between two real gentlemen.

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  5. Pedro for President!

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  6. Don't miss the question at 1:45:00, by the attractive woman.

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  7. Am I wrong, didn't the audience agree with Krugman?

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  8. Krugman puts up another straw man to deflect attention from Schwartz's non personal "attack". Can wait to see how many time Krugman will blog about this like he had to after debating Ron Paul.

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  9. Krugman is like the Gingrich of economics. The man has such an arrogant certitude that it actually weighs on his audience. (Unfortunately in a positive manner) Meanwhile he will distort, fabricate, deflect, and seemingly outright lie without so much as a flinch, and then dare anyone to disagree with him. I've found that some of the most successful, "charismatic" (as coined by the media) politicians possess this quality. While most politicians use ambiguity, deflection and linguistic semantics to dance around issues, the most successful just charge right though them, lying with the kind of confidence that would convince a chihuahua to charge a bull, and win. I see Krugman as no different in this regard, it's just a shame that the general public can't see it.
    I must admit, I enjoyed the quick pan back to Krugman, showing his face boiling red.

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  10. I didn't hang on all the way to 1:45 the first time and it really is a remarkable exchange. The woman asks flat out if inflation is theft and Krugman makes it clear that he thinks devaluation of currency is perfectly natural and fair, while unemployment is a terrible man-made evil.

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  11. Why does Krugman have to be so snide?

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    1. I think it's because he's aware that some of his arguments are ridiculous and ultimately it's his only defense for what are illogical/unworkable arguments. I really think we are seeing him crack, I happen to think his face was red from embarrassment, not anger.

      In fact Schwartz correctly called Krugman out on this "superior" type attitude/morality of his(or being snide). I've never seen Krugman's tail so soundly kicked before.

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  12. OMG! When the woman @ the 1:45:00 minute-mark asked about inflation, did you hear Krugman's answer! ". . . inflation is only. . . theft, if you consider anything that people didn't expect . . . that affects some people for the worse . . . theft. There is no promise. A euro note does not promise on it a fixed purchasing power in terms of goods." "...didn't expect"? What, is basic math no longer used by economists at the NYTimes?

    Not sure WHAT reason is behind Krugman blaming the 25% of unemployed workers for the economic crisis. Yet, he gets away with brutal lies and an imbecilic morality. I'm glad that Dr. Schwartz was there.

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  13. I didn't realize how fat Krugman is.

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  14. Paul Krugman states that John Maynard Keynes advocates increasing government spending during economic downturns and decreasing government spending during economic upturns. PK then states that he agrees with that. I have never read when PK has advocated a decrease in government spending. However I have not read all of his blogs/books.

    Its also interesting to note PK advocating reading Irving Fisher, who by the way totally missed the depression of 1929 and thought the stock market would just go up forever. Thhis gave me a lot of time to watch PK skirt nearly every issue. Thankyou Mr. Schwartz for being so enlightened.

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  15. I have heard so much BS today on the internet it makes me want to puke. How the F does Krugman think the last four years proves he is correct? Yes the inflation thing is a terrible over site for the Austrian school, but of course prices are still rising. Where were there actual cuts in Gov spending? I remember more than a few Austrians saying Japan style economic growth was coming.

    Or more correctly...the good Austrians said they didn't know how to predict the future, but of the possible out comes, based on the actions of FED and the crooks in DC, the following scenarios are the most likely. Oh and believe the opposite of what officials are saying.

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  16. I see Krugman favors an expansionary waistline policy as well.

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  17. Why would it be surprising that the King's favorite economist likes criticism about as much as the King himself?

    Srsly, if there's anything more delicious than Krugman getting dissed on stage I can't imagine what that would be.

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