If we discovered that, you know, space aliens were planning to attack and we needed a massive buildup to counter the space alien threat and really inflation and budget deficits took secondary place to that, this slump would be over in 18 months. ... There was a Twilight Zone episode like this in which scientists fake an alien threat in order to achieve world peace. Well, this time, we don't need it, we need it in order to get some fiscal stimulus.

Paul Krugman

Categorized in : Order Twilight Space

It’s not about the budget; it’s about the power...So will the attack on unions succeed? I don’t know. But anyone who cares about retaining government of the people by the people should hope that it doesn’t.

Paul Krugman

who-cares government people

The economics profession went astray because economists, as a group, mistook beauty, clad in impressive-looking mathematics, for truth.

Paul Krugman

economics mathematics groups

The raw fact is that every successful example of economic development this past century every case of a poor nation that worked its way up to a more or less decent, or at least dramatically better, standard of living has taken place via globalization, that is, by producing for the world market rather than trying for self-sufficiency.

Paul Krugman

taken successful past

So what are the effects of increasing minimum wages? Any Econ 101 student can tell you the answer: The higher wage reduces the quantity of labor demanded, and hence leads to unemployment.

Paul Krugman

minimum-wage unemployment wages

Rising inequality isn’t about who has the knowledge; it’s about who has the power.

Paul Krugman

inequality rising

The growth of the Internet will slow drastically, as the flaw in 'Metcalfe's law'–which states that the number of potential connections in a network is proportional to the square of the number of participants–becomes apparent: most people have nothing to say to each other! By 2005 or so, it will become clear that the Internet's impact on the economy has been no greater than the fax machine's.

Paul Krugman

impact squares law

Wealthy Americans who benefit hugely from a system rigged in their favor react with hysteria to anyone who points out just how rigged the system is.

Paul Krugman

hysteria benefits favors

Middle-class societies don't emerge automatically as an economy matures, they have to be CREATED through political action.

Paul Krugman

political action class

You really have to go searching desperately to find any contemporary examples of good, old-fashioned runaway inflation.

Paul Krugman

runaway old-fashioned example

There are no atheists in foxholes and there are no libertarians in financial crises.

Paul Krugman

foxholes libertarian atheist

Debt is one person's liability, but another person's asset.

Paul Krugman

liability debt assets

We should try to create the society each of us would want if we didn't know in advance who we'd be.

Paul Krugman

should want trying

Seven habits that help produce the anything-but-efficient markets that rule the world.

Paul Krugman

running believe thinking

Governments do not necessarily act in the national interest, especially when making detailed microeconomic interventions. Instead, they are influenced by interest group pressures. The kinds of interventions that new trade theory suggests can raise national income will typically raise the welfare of small, fortunate groups by large amounts, while imposing costs on larger, more diffuse groups.

Paul Krugman

political government philosophy

I believe in a relatively equal society, supported by institutions that limit extremes of wealth and poverty. I believe in democracy, civil liberties, and the rule of law. That makes me a liberal, and I’m proud of it.

Paul Krugman

political law believe

In our country, learned ignorance is on the rise.

Paul Krugman

our-country ignorance country

Europe is often held up as a cautionary tale, a demonstration that if you try to make the economy less brutal, to take better care of your fellow citizens when they're down on their luck, you end up killing economic progress. But what European experience actually demonstrates is the opposite: social justice and progress can go hand in hand.

Paul Krugman

opposites europe hands

I believe that the only important structural obstacles to world prosperity are the obsolete doctrines that clutter the minds of men.

Paul Krugman

mind men believe

If you had to explain America's economic success with one word, that word would be "education".... Until now, the results of educational neglect have been gradual - a slow-motion erosion of America's relative position. But things are about to get much worse, as the economic crisis ... deals a severe blow to education across the board.... We need to wake up and realize that one of the keys to our nation's historic success is now a wasting asset. Education made America great; neglect of education can reverse the process.

Paul Krugman

blow education america

If you want to understand opposition to climate action, follow the money.

Paul Krugman

climate-action global-warming want