Krugman Is Right - But It May Not Make A Difference

Business Insider has a well-written article summarizing the intellectual triumph of those economists like Paul Krugman and Brad DeLong who advocated more economic stimulus instead of more austerity.

Readers of my blog know I have agreed with that assessment all along. But I have to take issue with part of the BI article. "Over the course of this debate," the article emphasized, "evidence has gradually piled up that, however well-intentioned they might be, the "Austerians" were wrong." 

I don't buy into the "well-intentioned" argument. Many of the "Austerians" were simply pandering to the preferences of the wealthy and powerful. Yesterday economist Jared Bernstein posted an article about "The Preferences Of The Wealthy And Their Role In American Politics." None of what he says will come as a surprise to anyone who has paid attention. Nor is it new in our history. But from around 1935 until around 1975, it was under control. 

Things began to change while working Americans were paying attention to something (or somethings) else.

Now it will take a sustained effort to undo the work of the wealthy and powerful over the past four decades.

It is not accidental that wages of working Americans have stagnated for the past four decades while income and wealth of the wealthy has soared. And it was not due to efforts I would call "well-intentioned."

Krugman himself doubts that the thorough discrediting of studies by Reinhart/Rogoff and Alesina will make a difference. Our Congress continues applying discredited medicine. Currently the sequester. What destructive economic leeches will they apply next?

More On The Sequester Disaster

Here's an analysis of the sequester published by the Center for Economic and Policy Research.

Now Here's My Plan:

When in a difficult situation ("sticky wicket"), it's always best to plan ahead.

My favorite graphic depiction of the planning process is in this Shel Silverstein cartoon: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Nowplansilverstein.jpg

Professional planners will get the point.

The Sequester Is A Really, Really Bad Idea

I don't care who thought it up. The sequester was a bad idea. The obsession with debt instead of joblessness that led to the sequester was foolishness of a high order.

Unless the Congress comes to its senses, the damage that is being done will persist.

The only good thing we can say is that the US isn't acting as foolishly as Europe.

Paul Krugman explains. He shouldn't have to.

For at least four years, the U.S. political class has failed in economic leadership. In steering the ship of state, they persist in putting the rudder over in the wrong direction.

The problem is jobs, not debt.

At least the United States hasn't entered another dip in the recession.

Yet.

Cox v. Town Of Oriental: I Have Not Struck My Colors

I have been asked recently whether I will appeal Judge Alford's dismissal of my complaint against the Town.

The answer is: Appeal is one of several measures under consideration.

Plainly, to go forward with any options will realistically require retention of counsel. I have already received a number of contributions to the effort and will need more.

I have opened a bank account in the name "ONC Protect Streets" to accept deposits for legal expenses to support the effort.

Anyone wishing to contribute can send donations to ONC Protect Streets at 409 Academy Street, Oriental, NC 28571.

I am also working on a web site to provide background information and to explain how important the effort is to protect public access to public trust waters.

It's all about the water.

Oriental North Carolina Public Records

Last week Mayor Sage advised citizens that the "best, most efficient and quickest way for anyone to obtain public information or documents" is to visit the Town's web site.

Maybe.

I have visited the web site frequently in recent months. I looked again today. There are no minutes of Town Board meetings since last November. Minutes are adopted by the Town Board at every monthly meeting, most recently at the meeting of April 2 for minutes of March meetings.

December, January, February and March minutes are not posted on the Town's web site.

And that's not all.

Minutes for 2010 are in a bad way.

Some minutes refer to closed session minutes for which there appear to be no corresponding open session minutes.

What else? I have just begun to look.

I'm sure it's just an oversight.

Sit Down And Shut Up! - Just Who's In Charge Here, Anyhow?

NC Senator Tommy Tucker earlier in the week admonished a North Carolina Publisher "I am the senator. You are the citizen. You need to be quiet."

Democracy is messy. It doesn't always achieve the best result. But one thing is clear: elected officials work for the citizen, not the other way 'round.

Shame  on Tommy Tucker. And shame on citizens who don't stand up and make themselves heard. It isn't enough to just vote at election time.

The principle is, you can't have Democracy without elections, but you can have elections without Democracy. We have seen that in our time, around the world.

As Chris Fitsimon of NC Policy Watch explains, "Tucker's berating of a citizen he is supposed to be representing wasn't all that surprising. That's the way the General Assembly, especially the Senate, is run these days.... The folks in charge not only want to make sure you know they are in charge, they want your obedience, not your questions or doubts and certainly not your disagreements."

Closer to home, last Wednesday, Oriental mayor Bill Sage wrote an article appearing in the Pamlico News: "Oriental Town Board and Public Participation." The key message: "The town board's meetings are for the purpose of its conduct of official town business with which the board is charged with responsibility by its charter and by state law. It is an opportunity for the public to observe the work of the mayor and commissioners."

In other words, to the public: "sit down and shut up."

Incredibly, at a number of recent meetings, that has been the message to commissioners as well. Issues of public finance have been deemed unsuitable for discussion in public. "Schedule a private meeting to discuss your questions with the Town Manager," the mayor directed the board. Questions raised by a citizen concerning number of employees were not answered. The questions were not even answered when asked by a commissioner.

Sage's article does not come right out and say so, but the rest of the message seems to be: "input from the public is neither required nor desired."

Who knows - the Town's Governing Body might actually learn something from the citizens and be diverted from its preordained course.

Seventy Years Ago: Isoroku Yamamoto

April 18, 1943, a squadron of US Army P-38 twin engine fighters took off from Guadalcanal on a 1,000 mile round-trip flight to shoot down a Japanese aircraft taking a very important person to Bougainville. The very important person was Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto, commander of the Japanese Fleet.

Four days earlier, US Navy communications intelligence personnel intercepted a series of messages encoded in the Japanese naval operating code, JN-25. It proved to be a series of communications giving Admiral Yamamoto's precise itinerary for a command inspection tour. The purpose of the tour was to enhance Japanese morale for their next planned offensive operations.

US planners considered what aircraft to assign to the mission. The only aircraft with enough range was the P-38. Eighteen P-38's were assigned to the mission, code-named Vengeance. The planned time of intercept was 09:35.

The four P-38's designated to intercept Yamamoto arrived at 09:34 just as Yamamoto's flight of two Japanese twin-engined aircraft began their descent. The interceptors shot down both aircraft. Yamamoto, in the lead aircraft, perished. Yamamoto's deputy, in the second aircraft, survived.

The mission was an assassination. The assassination succeeded.  Today we would call it a "targeted killing."

Did it shorten the war or make the next two years of warfare easier? Probably not.