Monday, November 24, 2014

Does Paul Krugman Believe He Has Conquered Death?

In Peter Schiff's rebuttal to Paul Krugman's attack on him (SEE:HOT Peter Schiff Responds to Attack from Paul Krugman), Peter makes the important point that Krugman has declared victory against those that are warning about accelerating price inflation because it hasn't occurred yet.

Peter correctly notes that the game isn't over yet and it is far too early to be declaring victory.

These early declarations of victory seem to be a pattern with Krugman.

In a recent post (Paul Krugman: "Obama has emerged as one of the most consequential and, yes, successful presidents in American history."), I pointed out Krugman doing the same thing with Obamacare:
Krugman claims [Obamacare] is a success because:
[M]ultiple independent surveys show a sharp drop in the number of Americans without health insurance, probably around 10 million, a number certain to grow greatly over the next two years as more people realize that the program is available and penalties for failure to sign up increase.
This, indeed, has been a constant theme of Krugman's in his NYT columns, that X number have signed up for Obama that previously didn't have insurance., and thus Obamacare is a success.

But shouldn't the measure of success be how well Obamacare is in delivering healthcare, not  how many have signed up? I may declare that I am going to give everyone in the world a million dollars, who emails me their address, but the measure of success of my million dollar program should't be how many sign up for the program, but how well I deliver on the promise to pay everyone who signs up. And this is where Krugman's declaration that Obamacare is a success makes no sense.

It is only over time that we will see how well that Obamcare delivers on its promise to deliver quality healthcare.

Following Krugman logic on price inflation and Obamacare "success," one has to think that Krugman must believe he has defeated death, simply because he is alive today.

BUT, in time, it says here, he will be wrong on all three.

1 comment:

  1. I guess he missed that nugget from his mentor: "In the long run, we are all dead."

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