At Paul Krugman’s Suggestion, I’m Offering to Sell My Heirloom 1944 Model Oldsmobile to Economist Robert Barro. Rather Than Putting It On Ebay.
Okay, by now y’all know that I’m not an economist. Nor a statistician. Nor a mathematician. Nor even someone who can easily understand simple line graphs. (Bar graphs work for me, though, I’ve discovered!)
But I do know a tad about 20th century American history. So when I read Paul Krugman’s latest blog post, titled “Stimulus Derangement Syndrome,” about the really bald mistakes of fact–basic failures to remember history or logic, as Krugman descriptively phrases it–by “name” conservative economists, in the service of advancing austere fiscal policy, I was struck by this sentence:
So, for example, we had Robert Barro arguing that multipliers are small because private spending fell during World War II (hello? Rationing? Banning of private construction?).
I didn’t know who Robert Barro is until I read Krugman’s blog post. But now that I do know, I want to contact him, because I think he might be interested in buying a family heirloom I have in the garage, and I’m trying to sell it. It’s a 1944 model Oldsmobile, and it’s in vintage condition. It’s also unique. Believe me.
ha! now i get it…
i thought it was funny the first time i read it, but i didnt understand it that go ’round…
but now i see the uniqueness of your offer…
Clever, Beverly. Let us know if he takes the bait. 🙂
Oh, yes, rjs. Let me assure you that it’s definitely, definitely unique. It’s a real beauty, too. You should see it.
I friggin’ couldn’t BELIEVE that sentence about Barro in Krugman’s blog post. This guy’s an … economist? What’s he gonna say next? That the Germans would have won the war if only they hadn’t spent so much money on tanks, Messerschmitts and submarines, raising interest rates so much that civilians stopped using their Visa cards to buy radios and refrigerators?
At least this guy doesn’t claim to be a historian.