Sunday, August 23, 2009

Paul Krugman Responds

Paul Krugman responds, not to me but to about sixty comments on his blog saying that we are in a recovery. One of those comments was mine, and most of the comments were along the lines of my post earlier on the subject. His response is entitled “Some call it recovery.” Note the coy use of “some” in that title.

He called it recovery, and is backpedaling furiously now.

He now claims that he was merely saying that by the formal definition of “recession” the recession was over and that he knows full well the economy is not actually recovering, because he is fully aware of the suffering of people who do not have jobs. Blah, blah, blah. I love these people with high foreheads who can't just say, “Oops, I screwed up. I wasn’t thinking.”

To quote the post which he is now breathlessly backing away from, “Barara Kiviat asks, is this a recovery or isn’t it? The answer is yes.”

I will repeat what my post said, “The answer is no. The recession may be technically over, but this is not a recovery.” Which is what Paul Krugman is now claiming is what he said.

I may not have “one of those Swedish thingies,” but I can read printed English. It’s right there in black on white in the New York Times, “The answer is yes.”

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