Tuesday, March 23, 2021

It's Time to Panic: The Paul Krugman "Don't Panic" Indicator Just Kicked In

On New Year's eve, The New York Times dropped a column by Paul Krugman.

He was very optimistic. 

He concluded the piece this way:

[A]ll in all, there’s a pretty good chance that Joe Biden will preside over an economy that surprises many people on the upside. Happy New Year.

There was no mention of inflation in the column. Zero 

He said that the economy wouldn't need any kind of major bailout:

[T]his time the economy won’t need support as badly as it did during the Obama years.

Obama's spending package, in the end, amounted to $831 billion. Biden's recent spending package was more than twice that at  $1.9 trillion. 

Despite his column claiming no major government spending support would be needed, less than 90 days later Krugman, loyal lefty apparatchik that he is, fully-backed Biden's monstrous spending plan.

Now, he seems to be aware price inflation is coming. His latest column is titled, How Not to Panic About Inflation.

In it, he writes, "There will almost surely be a rise in inflation, too, possibly well above the Fed’s target rate of 2 percent a year." And this, "So what’s going to happen in the months ahead? We’ll probably see a number of transitory price increases..."

LOL, he knows what's coming and the best defense he can come up with at this point to protect Senile Joe is to conclude his column this way:

Now as then there are people eager to denounce government attempts to help the economy. And it’s certainly possible that the American Rescue Plan will turn out, in retrospect, to have been too much of a good thing. But don’t let the usual suspects seize on a few months’ inflation data as evidence of looming disaster.

It is time to buy more gold and silver. The Krugman "don't panic" indicator just kicked in. 

-RW

3 comments:

  1. I literally had just read this article and I had a feeling you were going to comment on it so I came to the blog and there it was! The article was complete garbage with Krugman using his tired circuitous line of reasoning. Basically his argument is premised on, "well there was no major inflation during the early 2010s like all the conservatives were claiming there would be, so clearly regardless of the circumstance I can just assume there will be no inflation this time around either." I mean there isn't even really any type of economic analysis from Krugman. You would think he would at least try to contrast the stagflationary period of the 1970s to today, but instead focuses on a period where there was no dramatic increase in inflation i.e. the economy after the 2007 to 2008 recession. Still, even Krugman is seeing potential blood in the water and the fact that he is calling the Biden stimulus a possible too much of a good thing speaks volumes of where he see things headed. After all if the Fed has to cool inflation there isn't going to be a lot of incentive for big spending projects, which isn't even mentioning the political bloodbath that could ensue for Democrat's if inflation gets out of hand. Interesting times indeed.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I almost feel sorry for the guy. It seems like for years he's been angling for a senior position in any Democratic administration, but no one wants him. At some point, his lips will develop rashes from kissing all those asses.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Speaking of big spending projects, the Wall Street Journal this morning headline story "Biden Advisers Draw Up Next Big Proposal" says the next one will be $3 trillion for a "Build Back Better" infrastructure package. It's as if they know there's a limited time to shovel as much money as possible to their friends and supporters, and masters.

    ReplyDelete