Oops, he did it again. Krugman again speaks to the MMers-and so Sumner. He wonders if they know who their real enemy is.
"a word about self-styled conservative “market monetarists”: guys, have you noticed who your real policy enemies are? People like me, Brad DeLong, etc. are skeptical about the Fed’s ability to offset the effects of fiscal austerity, but we do want it to try. The furious academic opposition to quantitative easing is instead coming from moderate conservative macroeconomists, notably Taylor and Feldstein. So your problem isn’t just that the GOP’s effective leader on economic issues gets his macro from Francisco D’Anconia; it’s that even the not-so-silly wing of the party is dead set against what you consider reform."
http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/06/07/hard-money-men/
It's a good point. It's a question I've asked more than once or even twice.
http://diaryofarepublicanhater.blogspot.com/2013/05/is-sumner-krugmans-real-enemy.html
http://diaryofarepublicanhater.blogspot.com/2013/06/marcus-nunes-has-suggestion-for-new.html
I'd say if anything it's a puzzle: if the real enemies of further monetary easing are on the Right why does Sumner seem to want to go after Keynesians so much? My trouble is that his actions-and those of his friends like Marcus Nunes-seem to belie that the conservatives who are so opposed to monetary easing are Sumner's real enemies. That's why I think his real goal is not to harm those who oppose monetary easing but those who suggest fiscal stimulus.
There have been some amazing comments from the conservative opponents of monetary easing lately. Krugman talks about Taylor:
Taylor has a new explanation for why his inflatiionphobia has proven to be baseless: Obamacare killed the inflation. True the level of Obamacare Derangement Syndrome (OBDS) as been increasing the more clear it is that the 'train wreck' isn't going to be for Obamacare but it's opponents.
http://www.newrepublic.com/article/113407/gop-obamacare-strategy-dooming-republican-party#
but this argument takes the cake. I thought premiums were going to 'skyrocket' because of Obmaacare-now the ACA is actually preventing not just costs from rising in the healthcare industry but the overall economy?!
We had Bill Gross demanding that Bernanke cease and desist the other day. Gross of course put his money where his mouth was in 2011 and lost his shirt trying to play the "Treasury bubble."
http://www.cnbc.com/id/100787929
While Gross at least believes that the Fed is somehow retarding the recovery, we have Alan Greenspan himself, today, on CNBC saying that QE should be ended even if doing so wil hurt the recovery.
"Meanwhile, former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan told CNBC that thecentral bank should start to taper its $85 billion a month bond-buying program even if the economy is not ready for it, saying that the near-zero interest rate policy has helped stock prices, but the markets need to be prepared for faster-than-expected rise in rates."
http://www.cnbc.com/id/100787929
If Sumner and the Keynesians are in any way 'on the same side' he doesn't seem to know anything about that. Today he was at it again after the numbers came out:
"In other news, job growth this year is running 189,200/month, versus 182,750/month last year. Which economist said late last year that Fed initiatives such as QE and the Evans Rule would roughly negate the effects of fiscal austerity? And which school of economists got it wrong, suggesting fiscal austerity would sharply slow growth? And which school of economists got it wrong, suggesting “easy money” would lead to higher inflation. Just asking."
"The financial press speculates that the Fed may begin tightening in September, because nominal growth would be too strong if they didn’t tighten. And also that growth is weaker than they’d like because of the sequester. Go figure."
http://www.themoneyillusion.com/?p=21661#comments
Go figure, indeed.
"a word about self-styled conservative “market monetarists”: guys, have you noticed who your real policy enemies are? People like me, Brad DeLong, etc. are skeptical about the Fed’s ability to offset the effects of fiscal austerity, but we do want it to try. The furious academic opposition to quantitative easing is instead coming from moderate conservative macroeconomists, notably Taylor and Feldstein. So your problem isn’t just that the GOP’s effective leader on economic issues gets his macro from Francisco D’Anconia; it’s that even the not-so-silly wing of the party is dead set against what you consider reform."
http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/06/07/hard-money-men/
It's a good point. It's a question I've asked more than once or even twice.
http://diaryofarepublicanhater.blogspot.com/2013/05/is-sumner-krugmans-real-enemy.html
http://diaryofarepublicanhater.blogspot.com/2013/06/marcus-nunes-has-suggestion-for-new.html
I'd say if anything it's a puzzle: if the real enemies of further monetary easing are on the Right why does Sumner seem to want to go after Keynesians so much? My trouble is that his actions-and those of his friends like Marcus Nunes-seem to belie that the conservatives who are so opposed to monetary easing are Sumner's real enemies. That's why I think his real goal is not to harm those who oppose monetary easing but those who suggest fiscal stimulus.
There have been some amazing comments from the conservative opponents of monetary easing lately. Krugman talks about Taylor:
Taylor has a new explanation for why his inflatiionphobia has proven to be baseless: Obamacare killed the inflation. True the level of Obamacare Derangement Syndrome (OBDS) as been increasing the more clear it is that the 'train wreck' isn't going to be for Obamacare but it's opponents.
http://www.newrepublic.com/article/113407/gop-obamacare-strategy-dooming-republican-party#
but this argument takes the cake. I thought premiums were going to 'skyrocket' because of Obmaacare-now the ACA is actually preventing not just costs from rising in the healthcare industry but the overall economy?!
We had Bill Gross demanding that Bernanke cease and desist the other day. Gross of course put his money where his mouth was in 2011 and lost his shirt trying to play the "Treasury bubble."
http://www.cnbc.com/id/100787929
While Gross at least believes that the Fed is somehow retarding the recovery, we have Alan Greenspan himself, today, on CNBC saying that QE should be ended even if doing so wil hurt the recovery.
"Meanwhile, former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan told CNBC that thecentral bank should start to taper its $85 billion a month bond-buying program even if the economy is not ready for it, saying that the near-zero interest rate policy has helped stock prices, but the markets need to be prepared for faster-than-expected rise in rates."
http://www.cnbc.com/id/100787929
If Sumner and the Keynesians are in any way 'on the same side' he doesn't seem to know anything about that. Today he was at it again after the numbers came out:
"In other news, job growth this year is running 189,200/month, versus 182,750/month last year. Which economist said late last year that Fed initiatives such as QE and the Evans Rule would roughly negate the effects of fiscal austerity? And which school of economists got it wrong, suggesting fiscal austerity would sharply slow growth? And which school of economists got it wrong, suggesting “easy money” would lead to higher inflation. Just asking."
"The financial press speculates that the Fed may begin tightening in September, because nominal growth would be too strong if they didn’t tighten. And also that growth is weaker than they’d like because of the sequester. Go figure."
http://www.themoneyillusion.com/?p=21661#comments
Go figure, indeed.
As soon as I saw it I came over here... I thought you'd pick up on that! It even used the "enemy" term you brought up a few articles back. Funny!
ReplyDeleteAnd Sumner fires back: smacking down the olive branch in a huff:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.themoneyillusion.com/
"He started it!" haha!
... he actually uses the word "slapped me down" in there somewhere. This does start to sound like an ego thing... some hurt feelings (perhaps on both sides?). Too bad... because the "real enemies" are really dangerous!
Thanks Tom-this answer by Sumner is gold. I knew he'd react like this-he'd be entirely uncharitable. A lot to unpack here. There will be a post-probably it will lead to others-for me in this, bet on it.
ReplyDelete