Paul Krugman To Ron Paul (debate): 'You're Living In A World That Was 150 Years Ago' (VIDEO)

[pampango]

Paul Krugman and Ron Paul just got into it on Bloomberg TV over whose monetary policy views are more dated. Paul struck first, calling the idea that the Federal Reserve could effectively determine what the proper interest rate should be "presumptuous." Then Krugman essentially accused him of living in a fantasy universe.

"You can't leave the government out of monetary policy," Krugman said during the not-quite-epic debate billed as "Paul vs. Paul." "If you think that you can avoid that you're living in the world that was 150 years ago."

U.S. policy makers established the nation's first central bank in the late 1700s, but the Federal Reserve system as we know it didn’t stick until about 1912, according to the Fed’s website. Paul advocates returning to the gold standard or a monetary system where currency is pegged to the value of gold, therefore severely limiting the role of the Fed.

The somewhat heated exchange wasn't all that surprising considering Krugman and Paul have almost completely opposite views. Krugman, a left-leaning economist and Nobel laureate, has been known to defend government intervention in the economy and expansive monetary policy in an aim to boost growth. For his part, Paul, a Texas congressman and Republican candidate for president, is probably the best known advocate for sharply curtailing the role of the Federal Reserve -- his book, after all, is called "End The Fed."

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/04/30/paul-krugman-ron-paul_n_1465870.html

From Krugman's blog:

The things I do for book sales. I debated, sort of, Ron Paul on Bloomberg. Video here. I thought we might have a discussion of why the runaway inflation he and his allies keep predicting keeps not happening. But no, he insisted (if I understood him correctly) that currency debasement and price controls destroyed the Roman Empire. I responded that I am not a defender of the economic policies of the Emperor Diocletian.

Actually, though, appeals to what supposedly happened somewhere in the distant past are quite common on the goldbug side of economics. And it’s kind of telling.

I mean, history is essential to economic analysis. You really do want to know, say, about the failure of Argentina’s convertibility law, of the effects of Chancellor Brüning’s dedication to the gold standard, and many other episodes.

Somehow, though, people like Ron Paul don’t like to talk about events of the past century, for which we have reasonably good data; they like to talk about events in the dim mists of history, where we don’t really know what happened. And I think that’s no accident. Partly it’s the attempt of the autodidact to show off his esoteric knowledge; but it’s also the fact that because we don’t really know what happened — what really did go down during the Diocletian era? — you can project what you think should have happened onto the sketchy record, then claim vindication for whatever you want to believe.

It’s funny, in a way — except that this sort of thinking dominates one of our two main political parties.

http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/04/30/dont-know-much-about-ancient-history/#

[Lawlbringer]

1. Gonzo Ronzo came across as childish

Krugman: "You're living in a world that's 150 years old."
Paul: "WELL YOU'RE LIVING IN A WORLD THAT'S 1000 YEARS OLD!"


Then his points about the Roman Empire were essentially lifted from a high school economics textbook. Come on, dude.

It's ILLEGAL to use other forms of tender? You can go to jail? Ron, you're so stupid. Obviously, you can use other forms of barter, but nobody's under any obligation to take them. Or someone might value something more than another. So if I answer an ad for a car for sale with a gold nugget and two goats, the person wouldn't want to sell me that car. Whereas, if I show up with a comic book which they lost in a fire as a kid, they'd sell me the car with a full tank of gas. Without the government setting a baseline currency, there's no way you could use alternate currencies and have any sort of stable economy! To me, a slinky is worth 3 dollars, but my wife sees it as worth 5 dollars. What happens if you eliminate the dollars? How can you set a value for anything?

Anyway, that's off on a rant. But then at the end when he just started insulting Krugman, "Well, I want liberty, freedom, and don't want war."

Zzzzzzzzz.


He might as well have stomped his feet and insulted Krugman's mother.

[newspeak]

3. yeah, well I don't want to live in a world over hundred years ago

when the greedy robber barons ruled and influenced every damn part of our government and the people were working in sweatshops or being shot at by robber baron paid thugs.

[Lawlbringer]

4. Blessed are the muckrakers

for they brought about the end of that era.

It'll never come back. Deep down, most people have enough common sense to avoid that, even some of the righties.

But the small group of Paulites are like rabid dogs, or like mosquitos. They buzz by your ear and bother the crap out of you, but don't usually do any lasting damage.