Sunday, July 14, 2013

Welcome to Paul Krugman's Paradise

Paul Krugman is a big fan of what he calls, the "broken windows theory" (which is distortion and confusion surrounding the Broken Window Fallacy)

He writes:
[...]“broken windows” theory, in which destroying some capital can actually be a good thing under depression conditions.

And make no mistake, Krugman thinks the entire world is pretty much in depression:
 I guess what I’m saying is that I worry that a more or less permanent depression could end up simply becoming accepted as the way things are, that we could suffer endless, gratuitous suffering, yet the political and policy elite would feel no need to change its ways.
So Oakland, under the guise of a protest against the George Zimmerman verdict, turned the place into a Krugman paradise, which under Krugman's version of the "broken windows theory" should turn Oakland into a new booming city.

Here's how it went down:





Yup, this should really cause merchants to flood into Oakland.

This afternoon, when it was safer to wander about, after last night's close call. I headed across the San Francisco Bay to downtown Oakland to see for myself what the aftermath of a Paul Krugman window breaking boost-to-the-economy session  looked like.

I found that the national brand name merchants really took a pounding.

Foot Locker was hit hard.



As was Sears.

Local stores that seemingly were Trayvon Martin supporters got a pass:




The ground floor of the Oakland Tribune offices also took a big hit.


But, oh wait, I also spotted what Krugman would consider the boost to the economy that will now make downtown Oakland paradise.




9 comments:

  1. When rioters smash Krugman's windows and he still believes this nonsense, then I'll at least conclude that, while misguided, at least he isn't a hypocrite. Something tells me he'd be pissed.

    I'm thinking Krugman should blow up his entire house. Think of all the jobs it would create rebuilding it!

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  2. Would you consider the notion that war is good for the economy a permutation of the broken window fallacy? It seems similar. Proponents say that the spending helps a suffering economy and that the war employs people in various aspects of the war. But whether you think the war is just or not, there is no good coming out of it just destruction and diversion of valuable resources from the free market to the war effort.


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    1. War is just the Broken Window Fallacy writ large.

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  3. Imagine a world where thugs that destroy private property are valued more highly than courageous government employees that risk their life, limb, and property to expose illegal actions being perpetrated by the government.

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  4. Hahaha. The last picture was priceless

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  5. I love Tom woods example of before. Japan and u.s. should built massive navy's and then send them to the Pacific ocean in a glourious remote battle.

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  6. This is 1984, just 30 years late. I could never have imagined "Think-Speak" would be so pervasive. Up is down, right is left, crime is justice.

    Robert, hopefully you're considering some emergency body armor? http://phalanxsystems.com/products.html

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