Paul Krugman Blog: Sixties Madness

[n2doc]

July 10, 2012, 9:03 AM

Sixties Madness

Robert Samuelson has a very peculiar column in which he alleges that we can’t have Keynesian policies because irresponsible Keynesians ended budget responsibility back in the 1960s. Really.

Look, I know that conservatives are still fuming over sex, drugs, rock and roll, and all that; hatred of hippies remains a powerful force in America around 35 years after the last hippie sighting. But look; here’s the history of the ratio of US federal debt to GDP:


OK, something did happen to fiscal responsibility; but it happened circa 1981, not circa 1961. Who was the president then? I’m thinking, I’m thinking.

I’d add that the recent rise in debt/GDP is very different from what happened in the 80s; this time around we really had a crisis that required fiscal support for the economy. What happened in the 80s had no such justification.

http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/07/10/sixties-madness/

[lovuian]

1. Clinton had a surplus budget

then we had Bush ....who put us in the Iraq War and then we got into the Afghanistan War and then we got into the Libya Yar and then we are headed into the Syria War and next we will be going into the Iran War


meanwhile we are Bankrupt and the question is

are we stronger military wise

Our soldiers are experiencing sever battle fatigue as well as the nation

I can see us being brought in WWIII

which means

we have become a MILITARY STATE and not a democracy

[Cary]

3. We are not bankrupt

Please. This is a "conservative" talking point.

[jimlup]

4. It is instructive though to look at the ratio early versus later in the Clinton Presidency /nt

[BlueToTheBone]

5. Actually, they started in Afghanistan, but

because Dummy said "it wasn't target rich enough" they moved onto Iraq and destroyed the Sumarian culture by stamping army feet.

[ewagner]

2. Refreshing....

...manna for the wandering souls of the reality based universe!

[Spitfire of ATJ]

6. All through the Reagan Years the media kept asking when were his policies going to work?

And for eight years Reagan kept blaming Carter for leaving a huge mess. However Carter had a 3.06% increase in jobs while Reagan had 1.43% in his first term and 2.53% in his second.

Walk up to a typical American today and they will say the Reagan Years of course were better than the Carter Years.

The reality is the Reagan Years were terrible for the average American. Long lines at unemployment offices and services cut due to cities and states going broke. He cut home heating assistance and the news was full of stories of old people freezing to death in their own homes. It was during the Reagan Years that we first heard of old people living on dog food.