Therein lies the essential disconnect between Krugman--a prototypical "expert"--and the real world.
Just about every number recorded in the Federal Reserve Economic Data (FRED) system is, ultimately, a person or connected in some way to a person.
Employment level -- people
Unemployment -- people
Wages -- people's paychecks
Real Wages -- people's paychecks after being raped by inflation
CPI -- the inflation that is raping people's paychecks
PCEPI -- the inflation that is raping people's paychecks just a little bit less
It is very easy to get lost in the numbers sometimes, and I won't say that I always keep track of the essential humanity that lies behind these numbers. But I do understand that Main Street ultimately matters much more to the economy than Wall Street.
He does have a terminal case of foot-in-mouth disease. Economists are supposed to be better with the data than that. Numbers are the lifeblood of that discipline.
He is a hack, but he gets around enough that I sort of have to at least be aware of what he says, because that's the stuff I strive to correct in this Substack.
"Mostly they reflect the working stiff temporarily leaving the bar, then coming back."
"Working stiffs" are not people to him, they are simply numbers to be misinterpreted to match his predispositions.
Now if we can now go back to Clown Krugman's obsession with the fax machine...
Therein lies the essential disconnect between Krugman--a prototypical "expert"--and the real world.
Just about every number recorded in the Federal Reserve Economic Data (FRED) system is, ultimately, a person or connected in some way to a person.
Employment level -- people
Unemployment -- people
Wages -- people's paychecks
Real Wages -- people's paychecks after being raped by inflation
CPI -- the inflation that is raping people's paychecks
PCEPI -- the inflation that is raping people's paychecks just a little bit less
It is very easy to get lost in the numbers sometimes, and I won't say that I always keep track of the essential humanity that lies behind these numbers. But I do understand that Main Street ultimately matters much more to the economy than Wall Street.
Krugman never learned that.
Perhaps a Noble Laureate comes with a perpetual case of hubris or the "cannot admit to being wrong" effect.😉
Possibly, although I never recalled Milton Friedman being so frequently out of touch with reality.
Sometimes? That guy is an expert in being wrong.
He does have a terminal case of foot-in-mouth disease. Economists are supposed to be better with the data than that. Numbers are the lifeblood of that discipline.
I stopped reading or listening to that clown, like, 20 years ago. Conscience of a vapid partisan hack.
He is a hack, but he gets around enough that I sort of have to at least be aware of what he says, because that's the stuff I strive to correct in this Substack.
“How many Red Flags are enough?”
-Peter Nayland Kust
Pretty much!