Morning Must-Read: Paul Krugman: The Regrettable Man

The continued willingness of right-wing economists to declare their allegiance to the inflation cult continues to amaze:

Paul Krugman: The Regrettable Man: “CNN: ‘Lonegan also said Friday…

…that in conjunction with the Fed’s annual Jackson Hole symposium in Wyoming this year, a group of conservative economists are planning to hold a meeting of their own ‘directly across the street’ featuring former Federal Reserve Chair Alan Greenspan as the keynote speaker.

I guess we wait for confirmation before adding this to the file of examples establishing Maestrodamus as the worst ex-Fed chairman in history. But consider the notion that this group regards AG as an authority figure. Never mind the bubble denial; almost five years have passed since Greenspan declared that we were on the verge of becoming Greece, Greece I tell you, and wrote one of the most awesomely terrible passages in the history of economic policy:

Despite the surge in federal debt to the public during the past 18 months–to $8.6 trillion from $5.5 trillion–inflation and long-term interest rates, the typical symptoms of fiscal excess, have remained remarkably subdued. This is regrettable, because it is fostering a sense of complacency that can have dire consequences.

Yep: he was annoyed at the markets for failing to deliver the crisis he was expecting, and considered it ‘regrettable’ that the crisis had not arrived. Actually, though, this isn’t too different from the sentiment expressed by Paul Ryan and John Taylor, denouncing the Fed’s actions because they were preventing a fiscal crisis. Anyway, the saga of the inflation cult continues.

February 28, 2015

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