Krugman « Dr Alf's Blog

United Kingdom: stamp (Photo credit: Sem Paradeiro)

Paul Krugman is quite right to point out that if the Europeans and Mario Draghi, Olli Rehn, et al thought that their policies were working they would not have cut interest rates.

A generation of young people has been sacrificed in the UK and most of Europe due to the failure of these policies which were never going to work on their own.

Where I might differ with Krugman and Dr Alf is in finding the money needed to effect growth, enterprise, exports and to fund infrastructure.

They would favor less austerity, and more borrowing and presumably printing money to fund the infrastructure projects and create jobs–a Keynsian stimulus.

My approach would involve infrastructure bonds sold to Sovereign Wealth Funds and a lower tax system designed to keep capital onshore, rather than drive it away into cash mountains hidden in tax havens.

My approach to the EU for the UK would be to leave it, become a tax haven, make it attractive for wealthy foreigners to live here, freeze all other immigration other than for those with special skills, cut the Monarchy and the public sector down to size and export our way out of trouble.

John Gelmini

Mario and the Austerians – Paul Krugman – NYTimes.com (dralfoldman.com)
The Jobless Trap – NYTimes.com – Paul Krugman (dralfoldman.com)
How Austerity Kills – Some Reflections – John Gelmini (dralfoldman.com)
Links for 11-10-2013 (economistsview.typepad.com)
We Were Middle-Class Once, And Young – Paul Krugman – NYT (dralfoldman.com)
A Hard Look at the Implosion of UK Healthcare – John Gelmini (dralfoldman.com)
What’s In The Ryan Plan? – Paul Krugman NYTimes.com (dralfoldman.com)
Dr Alf’s Two Cents: Inflation Nation Not – Paul Krugman – NYTimes.com (dralfoldman.com)
The 1 Percent’s Solution – Paul Krugman – NYTimes.com (dralfoldman.com)
Who’s Very Important? – Paul Krugman – NYTimes.com (dralfoldman.com)

This is a MUST-READ article by liberal, Nobel Prize winning economist, Paul Krugman, writing in his Op-Ed column in the NYT. Check it out!

Mario and the Austerians – NYTimes.com.

This short blog is vintage Krugman, in my view. It’s no wonder that Krugman’s blog has 1 million+ followers.

With Europe’s politicians and mainstream media trying desperately to bury the term austerity, Krugman uses the ECB‘s rate cut as hard-evidence of Europe’s deep and ongoing crisis. Arch-villain of the piece is Olli Rehn, perhaps the most hated politician and bureaucrat in Europe.

Against this background of policy misjudgment and blundering, heavy on bureaucracy and paternalism, it’s not surprising that many prominent UK business people are advocating a referendum on the EU. Yesterday, this blog looked at Lord Digby-Jones views on an early referendum on Europe.

Is there anybody out there who still disagrees with Krugman that austerity in Europe (including the UK) has been too severe and has blighted youth’s prospects for a generation?

Any thoughts?

Paul Krugman, Laureate of the Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel 2008 at a press conference at the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences in Stockholm (Photo credit: Wikipedia)