Krugman Calls BS

He does it all the time.  His latest BS call is on all the analogies being made between the US and Greece. (Here's a link to Krugman's column).  Once he explains the reasons why the analogy is false, he goes on to show why they are being made:

And bear in mind, also, that taxes have lagged behind spending partly thanks to a deliberate political strategy, that of “starve the beast”: conservatives have deliberately deprived the government of revenue in an attempt to force the spending cuts they now insist are necessary.

...

So here’s the reality: America’s fiscal outlook over the next few years isn’t bad. We do have a serious long-run budget problem, which will have to be resolved with a combination of health care reform and other measures, probably including a moderate rise in taxes. But we should ignore those who pretend to be concerned with fiscal responsibility, but whose real goal is to dismantle the welfare state — and are trying to use crises elsewhere to frighten us into giving them what they want.

Here's a little more on that "starve the beast" thing from Bruce Bartlet.

What's a Trillion Dollars Worth Anyway?

Been lots of posting on the move by the ECB last night.  Looks like the euro went up against the dollar on the initial news and then fell back later in the day (hat tip - Krugman).

I think Felix Salmon captures why here:

Europe Growth Forecast Chart

Nice interactive chart for seeing the growth forecast in europe.  The 'PIGS' look like you'd expect them to (bad).  I was a little surprised by France's high unemployment rate.  Here's the link to the chart (where you can actually play with it).

Hat tip: Barry Ritholtz

Ruins

Source

Greece and the Euro-zone

Good stuff from Krugman.

Note that his usual critic, Mankiw, seems to think he has some good points.