Krugman has shot back at David Stockman in his NYT blog today:

[magical thyme]

15. somebody posted an old article about Stockman which stated he isn't actually an economist

So right there, although he made some interesting points in the article, on the whole he lost me.

One thing I've found is that when people stray into areas that are not areas that they've lived and breathed for a lifetime (including their formal education), they inevitably are missing at least one or two critical facts that undermine everything they're spouting.

So for economic matters, I follow Krugman the most, and not just because he is an actual nobel prize winning PhD economist either.

A couple years back some org or other did a study of economic predictions from 100 or so well known economists, politicians and pundits. Krugman topped the list hands down, not just more accurate, but far more accurate than #2 and the rest of the list. I'm not sure where Stockman fell on the list (if he even made the list).

I made a note of the top 5 prognosticators, along with the bottom 6.

Best:
1. Paul Krugman
2. Maureen Dowd
3. Ed Rendell
4. Chuck Schumer
5. Nancy Pelosi

Worst (as in, worth listening to and then believing the opposite :
1. Cal Thomas
2. Lindsey Graham
3. Carl Levin
4. Joe Lieberman
5. Sam Donaldson
6. George Will