Prize Festooned Jackass
by digby
Thank God Krugman responded to this utterly embarrassing comment from David Brooks, who, having established himself as pom pom king of the confidence fairies, can now resolve to go back to sociological studies of Red Lobster menus and not worry his little punkin' head about the economy:
Moreover, the Demand Siders write as if everybody who disagrees with them is immoral or a moron. But, in fact, many prize-festooned economists do not support another stimulus. Most European leaders and central bankers think it’s time to begin reducing debt, not increasing it — as do many economists at the international economic institutions. Are you sure your theorists are right and theirs are wrong?
What a good little boy he is.
(And I have to say I'm just loving these neocon/National Greatness bozos suddenly looking to Europe as the font of all wisdom. There was a time not long ago when David Brooks didn't give a freedom fry what European leaders thought about anything.)
Krugman takes him downtown:
Yes, I am. It’s called looking at the evidence. I’ve looked hard at the arguments the Pain Caucus is making, the evidence that supposedly supports their case — and there’s no there there.
And you just have to wonder how it’s possible to have lived through the last ten years and still imagine that because a lot of Serious People believe something, you should believe it too. Iraq? Housing bubble? Inflation? (It’s worth remembering that Trichet actually raised rates in June 2008, because he believed that inflation — not the financial crisis — was the big threat facing Europe.)
The moral I’ve taken from recent years isn’t Be Humble — it’s Question Authority. And you should too.
The moral I've taken is that everyone should ignore David Brooks.
And by the way, evidence has never mattered to the neocons, who have unsurprisingly joined up with the pain caucus. They have, after all, always been wrong about everything.
Update: Dean Baker answers here.