10 Responses to “Half Scorpion”

1. 1 1 nobody.really
   October 5, 2011 at 8:11 am

   Wooo woooo! Does Circ de Soleil know about you?

   (Let’s see Krugman try THAT!)

2. 2 2 Ken B
   October 5, 2011 at 11:27 am

   @Nobody.Really: I think you are unfair to Krugman. In this video we see Steve tying himself in knots and bending over backwards while ignoring basic economics. We see Krugman do that every time he defends the stimulus.

3. 3 3 Will A
   October 5, 2011 at 12:25 pm

   Ken B:

   I don’t think Krugman has ever defended the stimulus. From what I can see, he has always attacked it for not being large enough. The following is from Jan. 2009 (before Obama took office):
   http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/09/opinion/09krugman.html

   If you know of a post/column where Krugman said that the stimulus was sufficient and would have turned around the economy can you post?

   Thanks.

4. 4 4 Bob Ferguson
   October 5, 2011 at 1:01 pm

   Clearly a land creature.

5. 5 5 Ken B
   October 5, 2011 at 1:29 pm

   @WillA: Well, I will gladly accede to your implicit suggestion that Krugman ties himself in knots and ignores economics on more issues than just the stimulus.

   I guess we will have to disagree whether “we want even more than that” implies “we want at least that” or not. I would prefer two beers to one, if you are buying, but you shouldn’t infer I don’t want one.

6. 6 6 Ken B
   October 5, 2011 at 2:56 pm

   A plague falls upon the land and Ferry Jalwell tells us we must all pray, pray as hard as we can. Prayer will alleviate our suffering he promises. When nothing happens Skip Tec confronts him: “You recommended prayer.” “No” replies our hero “I recommended MORE prayer.”

7. 7 7 Will A
   October 5, 2011 at 4:37 pm

   Ken B:

   The following is a link where Krugman was worried that going through with a stimulus that was too small would make it politically impossible to have a more stimulus later:
   http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/09/opinion/09krugman.html

   If someone says, “I don’t want one beer now if it means I can’t have two beers latter.”, it would be pretty clear that the person doesn’t want one beer now.

   It would also be pretty clear that the person really enjoys beer.

   For sure we have no argument if you simply had a typo and meant to say:
   “We see Krugman do that every time he attacks the stimulus saying that the stimulus should not have been done because it was not large enough.”

8. 8 8 Will A
   October 5, 2011 at 4:55 pm

   Kaul Prugman – a civil engineer – tells a city council, “I think you need to build a water levy that is 20 feet tall.”

   The city builds a 10 foot water levy insisting that it is 50% sufficient.

   Kaul Prugman warns that a 10 feet water levy is insufficient and the city is in for trouble if they build it.

   A 15 feet flood comes and wipes out the city.

   Ben K makes a comment on someone’s blog that says:
   “Kaul Prugman is in favor of building water levies of any size regardless of whether or not they are effective.”

9. 9 9 Ken B
   October 6, 2011 at 11:09 am

   @WillA: If you read the Krugman link you provided you will note the Kruggers did not say he opposed the stimulus. He said he had always wanted even more. And, like my semi-mythical Ferry Jalwell, the article you link is his ex post facto explanation of why the stimulus didn’t work: not enough. Priests and their ilk have used this trick since time began. Find a link where Kruggers says “better no stimulus than this democrat plan” and we’ll talk.

10. 10 10 Seth
    October 7, 2011 at 12:24 pm

    If I were the engineer, I’d advise the city to rebuild on higher ground. They will eventually decide to do this anyway.