Paul Krugman's Blog, page 624

Science has a well-known liberal bias

From Pew.

Consistency on health care

Jonathan Chait mocks conservatives who are against big government, but also against any effort to ensure that Medicare funds are well spent.
But they're actually being entirely consistent. They don't think Medicare should exist at all. After all, back in 1960 Ronald Reagan said it would lead to tyranny. So they don't want to make [...:]

Cutting interest rates raises unemployment!

OK, not really. But here's what the data actually look like (Fed funds inverted on left scale, unemployment rate on right):

Of course, we all understand that the correlation runs the way it does because the Fed cuts rates in an effort to fight recessions.
But here's the thing: a lot of people are asserting that [...:]

Twitter identity theft

So I've been informed that someone (not me, obviously) set up a Twitter account in my name. I wonder what that was about ...

Hitler heaven

Sen. Jim DeMint says that America under Obama is like Germany before World War II. Republican women in Maryland say that Obama is like Hitler. Hitler comparisons are apparently rife at tea parties. What's gotten into the GOP?
Nothing. This has been going on all along. Back in 2002 Sen. Charles Grassley - reputedly a moderate [...:]

Economists oppose more stimulus?

That's the headline of this WSJ article. And it's true that most of the economic forecasters they surveyed don't want more stimulus. But the question is why.
And here's the thing: it's NOT because they think a solid recovery is on the way. On the contrary, their outlook is quite bleak: on average, the surveyed economists [...:]

Food for thought

According to a new site called Mediaite, Mark Bittman of the Times is the 8th most influential columnist in America, ahead of Arianna Huffington.
It's also noteworthy that Glenn Greenwald of Salon is #10.
On the other hand, Christopher Hitchens is #5. Why would God allow that?
And the less said about #1, the better ...

Bond panic subsiding?

Wall Street Journal Interest rate on 10-year Treasuries
Over the course of the spring there was a substantial rise in long-term interest rates; it was fed partly by talk of green shoots, but also, I suspect, by all the yelling about deficits and inflation. And, of course, the rise in rates was itself taken as evidence [...:]

Unpersons

One of the mysteries of the way issues are covered in much of the news media is how certain views get ruled "out of the mainstream" and just don't get covered - even when many well-informed people hold those views.
The most notorious example was during the buildup to the Iraq war: skepticism about the case [...:]

Oil speculation

Oil speculation is back in the news. Last year I was skeptical about claims that speculation was central to the price rise, because what I considered the essential signature of a speculative price rise - physical withholding of oil from the market, in the form of high inventories - just wasn't showing.
This time, however, oil [...:]