Friedrich Hayek, Zombie - Krugman
Truly, nothing ever changes. The insistence that big deficits somehow caused the crisis even thought they actually didn’t appear until after the crisis was well underway — and were clearly caused by the crisis, not the other way around — prefigures the debate in Europe, in which everyone declares that fiscal irresponsibility is the core issue even though both Ireland and Spain had low debt and budget surpluses on the eve of crisis.
I'm particularly taken by the "look at reality, conclude whatever I like, regardless of basic logic or cause and effect" aspect of this.
Austerity Games, Here And There - NYTimes.com: More Krugman -
So we have the spectacle of a government that inveighs against the evils of debt pinning all its hopes on an assumption that over-indebted households will dig their hole even deeper.
America’s energy use: this is an amazing chart. Answers a lot of little questions I had in one diagram.
The IMF’s welcome rethink on capital controls, from TripleCrisis
In contrast to most western governments, over the past two years, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has boldly conducted one of the most honest self-assessments of its actions leading up to the financial crisis, has become somewhat critical of inflation-targeting and has endorsed the use of capital controls. In March of this year, the IMF held a full conference on rethinking macroeconomics where its organisers concluded that the crisis has shattered the economic orthodoxy behind the fund’s previous policies.
Jacobs said the developing world was one massive experimental lab for macro-economic theory. I wonder, what are the ethics of saying, 'so, yeah, we got it massively wrong'?
MT on more US congress entertainment:
As of today, it is official. The US House of Representatives today voted down 240-184 an amendment from Henry Waxman (D-CA) that stated: "Congress accepts the scientific findings of the Environmental Protection Agency that climate change is occurring, is caused largely by human activities, and poses significant risks for public health and welfare." This is to say that even the agreement in principle that there is a problem has been roundly defeated in the congress, 19 years AFTER the US agreed with the rest of the world on exactly this point, since which time North America has ignored the progress in the rest of the world in coming to terms with its implications.
The Real Story of the Original Tea Party – From an Eyewitness participant
It was a revolt against corporate power and corporate tax cuts.
A nice litte Koch Brothers film (waterers of the present day astroturf elements of the Tea Party movement.)
A very big propellor. That is all.
So, can organics feed the world?
Generally, I pose the counter questions, what are the reasons for hunger and ask what role the way in food is produced plays in the forces and flows that leave people without enough food.
Random links for future ref:
Popper, 'three views concerning human knowledge' on, among other things, "Galileo’s testimony to the liberalizing force of science."
David MacKay: Sustainable Energy without the hot air: was recommended.
Comments
"I'm particularly taken by
"I'm particularly taken by the "look at reality, conclude whatever I like, regardless of basic logic or cause and effect" aspect of this."
- Yes Krugman's very good at that.
Physics / economics
Hey up Mr W. Hmm - if we can't agree on the physics of climate change, I guess we're even less likely to find any common ground when it comes to economics. That said, I'm still very much a learner (and particularly ignorant of macro) so if there's any killer arguments regarding deficit spending you have (links, whatever), it'd be interesting to see 'em.