I have been watching the Saturday morning talk shows, and it amazes me the amount of discussion about the lack of economic wisdom to deal with the current recession. Why amazed? Because I am a follower of Professor and Nobel prize winner Paul Krugman. I am convinced that Krugman is on the right track. The stimulus was too small to do the job. It saved us from a second Great Depression, and has kept us on a slow uptick towards national solvency. Unfortunately, the constant drumming of those saying that "there is no economist who has proposed a solution to the current problem," has managed to ignore or drown out Krugman's analysis. Maybe he is too wonkish for the average person. I don't think so.
What IS probably too hard for the average person to grasp is that debt is not automatically bad. Our national debt, as a percentage of GDP, is not at critical mass. It will become so if we continue our slide to Third World status. Reducing employment as a means of forcing wages down, may be a regressive desire - cheap employees mean cheap goods means increased sales. But it is hardly a desireable national goal. Likewise, deregulation permits less safety in employment and product safety, which permits cheaper products, which permits more sales. But again, the public must recognize that decreased regulation means more employees harmed, more consumers injured or dead.
And the war on Health Care Reform is of the same nature. Better health care means more cost, means more expensive goods, means less ability to compete. Continuing the current trend means increasing unemployment, fewer people covered, and higher costs for everyone. But goods will be cheap.
It's our choice as a nation. Unfortunately, the economists who are not in the pocket of corporate America - like Paul Krugman - are largely ignored.
What IS probably too hard for the average person to grasp is that debt is not automatically bad. Our national debt, as a percentage of GDP, is not at critical mass. It will become so if we continue our slide to Third World status. Reducing employment as a means of forcing wages down, may be a regressive desire - cheap employees mean cheap goods means increased sales. But it is hardly a desireable national goal. Likewise, deregulation permits less safety in employment and product safety, which permits cheaper products, which permits more sales. But again, the public must recognize that decreased regulation means more employees harmed, more consumers injured or dead.
And the war on Health Care Reform is of the same nature. Better health care means more cost, means more expensive goods, means less ability to compete. Continuing the current trend means increasing unemployment, fewer people covered, and higher costs for everyone. But goods will be cheap.
It's our choice as a nation. Unfortunately, the economists who are not in the pocket of corporate America - like Paul Krugman - are largely ignored.
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