by Rick Lowe

A friend sent along a link to Dr. Paul Krugman's commentary, about deficit Hawks and Hypocrites, of November 11, 2012, suggesting it was "worth perusing".

I'd given up reading Dr. Krugman's columns as his continual calls for more deficit spending are not something I subscribe to. What strikes me most though is his drumbeat that the only people who are correct in Washington (including himself of course) have the right prescription to "fix" the US economy and anyone else should be bad mouthed.

His insulting approach is, shall we say, surprising for a Nobel Laureate. At least any of those I'm familiar with.

The most recent intrigue is that people calling for fiscal responsibility – Mr. Paul Ryan, the recent Republican Vice Presidential candidate for example – were and are only flimflamming, and it is all a ruse to dismantle Medicare and savagely cut Medicaid.

As a recent Reuters news article informed; "Medicare also faces a potential financial crisis in 2024, when its trustees believe a government trust fund that helps pay for hospital benefits will be exhausted." And the list goes on. Is Dr. Krugman suggesting this should all be ignored? More…

He then waxes eloquently about how "deficits are actually a good thing when the economy is deeply depressed, so deficit reduction should wait until the economy is stronger." So he continues to preach, we need more and more government spending and everything will be just fine.

Even in his latest book, End This Depression Now! he's a cheerleader for inflation. He says: “if we could manage 4 or 5 percent inflation over that stretch, so that prices were 25 percent higher, the real value of mortgage debt would be substantially lower than it looks on current prospect — and the economy would therefore be substantially farther along the road to sustained recovery.” More…

I don't know about you, but this seems odd to me? Heck he even suggests "that any extra government borrowing probably" “won’t have to be paid off quickly, or indeed at all.”

Personally I am concerned the level of deficits and debt in both the US and here at home. Throwing high inflation in the mix is even scarier. I simply do not see how Dr. Krugman's prescription to "fix" the US economy by way of even larger deficits and spending and inflation is even logical?

No matter Professor Krugman's wish, it will all have to be paid for one way or the other? i.e higher taxes, or stealing the value of property through inflation. There are real costs imposed by both.

In closing his Hawks and Hypocrites article Dr. Krugman says:

"Look, we should be having a serious discussion about America’s fiscal future. But a serious discussion is exactly what we haven’t been having these past couple years — because the discourse was hijacked by the wrong people, with the wrong agenda."

Finally, even he does not appear to want that serious discussion as there are three sides to every story (his, theirs and the truth) and Dr. Krugman continues to disregard the costs – financial and economic – associated with his ideas.

I remain unconvinced that higher government deficits and debt and inflation are the answer to an economic turnaround.