I've been following Paul Krugman's blog and columns for a couple years now. He's the only political writer that I read consistently—and even though his blog is called "The Conscience of a Liberal", he's really still more of an economist than a political writer; that is, he has strong viewpoints about politics and policy, but he backs it up with a lot of economic data and theory. I don't agree with him on everything—he supported Hillary over Obama in the primary—but generally the things he says make a lot of sense (though sometimes they are a bit hard to follow when he gets wonkish). It's frustrating, though, how seldom his views seem to filter out into the mainstream media and popular mindset. Perhaps it's just that he's wrong, and I should venture outside the Krugman bubble and read some opposing viewpoints; I would happily accept suggestions for blogs that are similarly grounded in data and science but draw different conclusions. But I also sometimes worry that he just doesn't speak plainly and emphatically enough for his (often counterintuitive) positions to get noticed and understood. So, in the interest of public education, I'm going to try to summarize his stance on the current economic situation as I understand it. (I've never taken an economics class or anything, so my understanding is probably pretty shallow; please correct me if I get anything wrong.)
( Read more... )
( Read more... )