http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/06/19/paul-krugman-alien-invasion_n_1609805.html
And Spend Our Way To Economic Recovery
By tovarichpeter Follow Wed, 20 Jun 2012, 10:00am 463 views 4 comments
In South San Francisco CA 94080
Watch (0) Share
Quote
Permalink Like Dislike Viewing Comments 1-4 of 4 Last » See most liked comments
|
Premium member tovarichpeter is moderator of this thread. |
Follow
Befriend (2)
15 threads
430 comments
Reston, VA
Maybe he and Newt can get together on a moon colonization plan. Oh wait, only Newt was serious.
Follow
Befriend (13)
103 threads
3,764 comments
I don't think he is correct. World War 2 took us out of depression, we learned that in college.
Maybe Krugman didn't pay much attention, or simply went to a low quality public school where he was taught that FDR's ditch digging programs took us out of depression.
Follow
Befriend
8 threads
143 comments
San Jose, CA
FortWayne says
War creates things that go boom. It destroys and kills. It does motivate populations to act in unison, and spur on economic activity, but only temporarily. In the long run, war is typically a loss. Krugman's point is really we need a unifying force/cause/direction of some sort to pull us out. When we get that, be it war, an emergency, etc., we would start to "recover" economically. If we lose against that threat though, well, our recovery is over. Ask Germany if they think war pulls you out of an economic depression. They will say exactly the above : temporarily.
As far as WWII ... The US made a ton of money selling to the allies and remaining neutral for as long as possible (same for WWI). When finally forced to enter the war, because it came to us, we ramped up our industrial production even more (i.e. read as government SPENDING, investing in infrastructure, capacity etc.). When the dust settled, we were one of the only major economies left standing. This more to due with geographic location, and coming in late, than anything else (Warning flag waving about to happen: we also have a first class bunch of armed forces). With little world economic competition, and military occupations and influence around the globe, it was pretty easy to stay on top from that point on.
You will probably call the above revisionist BS. I think History is always revisionist though, because it is always about looking back.
Follow
Befriend (8)
204 threads
4,415 comments
Davis, CA
tovarichpeter says
A giant Federal employment program, mainly focussed on destruction. Millions employed to do nothing other than build something that would later be destroyed or discarded. Ending with a debt versus GDP higher than now.
And yet, if you want to pump even a tiny stimulus now to rebuild public infrastructure like bridges or parks or something, people look at you like you're insane.
They are the same thing in economic effect. Government programs with little long-term benefit other than to pump money into the economy, jumpstart the system. Then you just have to have the GUTS later to increase taxes once the money is flowing in order to pay down that debt. We had that ability in the late 1940's, we have it now, we just have to USE it.