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Krugman v. Brooks: On Inequality, Round 2

November 3, 2011 in Economics, Income Inequality/Economic Mobility, Personal Crusades, Politics

via Paul Krugman

Paul Krugman posted this chart on his blog this morning, which I find fairly convincing in proving his argument–that inequality has little to do with education, and a lot to do with our economy being a race to the top, where only a few win, and all winners win big.

It seems to me that David Brooks, and his defenders in this debate, would merely quip that this is a picture of the effect of “blue inequality,” and the real problems are the U.S.’s “stagnant human capital, its stagnant social mobility and the disorganized social fabric for the bottom 50 percent.”

For some additional context, I have included this graph, which shows U.S. math scores slipping below the international average (source):

I agree with both Krugman and Brooks, and yes, that is possible. Far from being mutually exclusive, the two positions come together to form a basic explanation that I embrace: Read the rest of this entry →

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Inequalities: Paul Krugman gets distracted | The Economist

November 2, 2011 in Income Inequality/Economic Mobility

Ah hah, the Economist makes my point about Krugman’s post from last night better than I ever could.

This is precisely the sort of thing I have in mind when I say (over and over and over again) that income inequality can be a dangerous distraction. Mr Brooks tries to argue that America’s “stagnant human capital, its stagnant social mobility and the disorganized social fabric for the bottom 50 percent” is a bigger problem than the top 1%’s outsized gains. This is a position with real merit. But Mr Krugman simply repeats that the top 1% and .1% have seen outsized gains, infers from this that “we’ve become an oligarchy” and then stops. How does this help? To what question is this the answer?

via Inequalities: Paul Krugman gets distracted | The Economist.

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Krugman: Michael Bloomberg, Ignoramus – NYTimes.com

November 1, 2011 in Economics, Income Inequality/Economic Mobility, Personal Crusades, Politics

Michael Bloomberg, Ignoramus – NYTimes.com.

Krugman is now all over Bloomberg. As I said earlier today, I agree with Steve Benen’s analysis, which means I agree with Krugman’s.

And I really respect Krugman as an economist, and even more so as a terrific writer with intellectual integrity. But, if you ask most non-liberals, you will hear that he does not come off that way.

As a result, he is perceived as a radical by the political establishment of both parties, and pretty much no one listens to him, try as some might. As such, his place in the political wilderness illustrates how over-politicizing is ruining our politics. He should be a rational voice, heard in any debate. As should be Greg Mankiw, and others of the sort (check out my recommended reading link above for more academics, on both sides of the political spectrum).

But, Krugman can’t help but phrase things aggressively. I would say his aggression is justified by that of the other side; but the other side does not see it that way, and never will. Hence our conundrum. And, as young people, we are left to grasp at straws and repeat the “he-said-she-said” political banter our supposed saviors engage in daily.

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