On February 22, 2019. The staff at Glibertarians.com attempted to poach some Jewish guy from the Ayn Rand institute to plug a rather deep hole in our content: macroeconomic analysis. Unfortunately, the Ayn Rand people want money for their work. Assholes. So, they instead got something better: ME.
Today marks a somber day. I will leave this link here for you to play in the background while you read this. Unlike me, it is incredibly appropriate.
Today will be the last economics corner for one obvious reason, Paul Krugman Retires as NYT Columnist:
I want to take you back to Jan. 2, 2000, a day when Y2K was in the rearview mirror and the dot-com bubble burst was just around the corner, when the Dow stood at a mighty 11,500 and a New York Times Opinion columnist debuted on the scene with the first of many prescient arguments and ideas about economics and government.
“Beginnings are always difficult: Even the most tough-minded writer finds it hard to avoid portentousness,” Paul Krugman wrote in his inaugural column nearly 25 years ago. “And since this is a quadruple beginning (new year, new century, new millennium and, for me, new column), I won’t even try. What follows are some broad opening-night thoughts about the world economy.”
24 years later the DOW has now melted up to $44,000. As explained by Investopedia, a melt up is a consistent rise in the price of a security or commodity regardless of the underlying factors that contribute to the overall value of said security or commodity. Did the products or services that Microsoft suddenly get 4x more valuable? Not really, 25 years later the Chrome browser is just a spyware loaded version of Internet Explorer and I still fucking hate Excel—chances are good you do too. The 4x rise in the DOW therefore reflects the level of reckless spending and federal monetary policy BECAUSE THERE IS TOO MUCH FUCKING MONEY FLOATING AROUND THE ECONOMY.
That lede and the column were signature Krugman: The authoritative voice. The lively writing. The direct style. The clear hand guiding readers through a thicket of policy, data and trade-offs. The big ideas — in that column, they were about the First Global Economy and the Second Global Economy and how the interplay of political and economic questions would shape life worldwide in the 21st century. In little time, Paul became an essential read in Opinion, helping countless readers become more fluent in and mindful of how trade, taxes, technology, the markets, labor and capital intersected with political leadership, ideology and partisanship to shape the lives of people across America and the world.
You have got to be shitting me. People that read Krugnuts and think it makes them smarter are the same people in 2024 wearing a N95 mask outdoors, the same people scraping snow and ice off their solar panels, and the same people looking at an eggplant thinking “this used to be 50¢ and it was shaped like a dick back then too!”
Beginnings are always difficult, as Paul said, and so are endings. I’m writing to let you know that he has decided to retire from The Times at the end of the year. He plans to write a final column soon — though he will forever be a friend of Opinion.
Paul is an important figure in the recent history of Times Opinion. Time and again, he took on the big fights, grappled with policy deeply and seriously, held the powerful to account and spoke hard truths — sometimes as a lonely voice arguing unfashionable positions. He was a strong, clear, early opponent of the American invasion of Iraq and spent years shining a light on the lies and consequences involved with that war. He was a principled critic of George W. Bush’s leadership and many of his policy priorities and, with lucid prose, helped readers understand the implications of the Bush tax cuts and his proposed privatization of Social Security. And Paul was plenty tough on Bush’s successor, too: Barack Obama hadn’t even taken office in 2009 when Paul memorably took apart the president-elect’s prescription for the Great Recession: “The economic plan he’s offering isn’t as strong as his language about the economic threat,” Paul wrote. “In fact, it falls well short of what’s needed.”
Yes. Coming out against the Iraq war was a brave and stunning act of stunning bravery. What a brave act it was to come out and publish whatever he wants in the country’s largest newspaper against George W Bush. A guy nobody in the reader base liked, that started a war nobody actually wanted to fight including people that actually fought it. 24 years later these same fucking idiots want to give Ukraine a shitload of money to buy weapons from the same defense contractors that made bank off the Iraq war. But that’s okay because he criticized BLOCK INSANE YO MAMA for not progging hard enough?
See? TOTALLY NON-PARTISAN
And through the Trump era and the Biden presidency, Paul was ever-sharp about the critical stakes facing the country, not least the threat to democracy posed by Donald Trump and how his plans could radically harm the economy. A few weeks before this year’s election, Paul took a deep dive into Trump’s tariff plans, laying out for readers in clear and urgent writing why his economic policy ideas could do enormous damage to American society. He ended the essay with a classic Krugman kicker, where he summarized the cons of Trump’s tariffs in one graf and then wrote in the final graf, “Pros: I can’t think of any.”
As explained by people that actually understand economics that he was against Trump tariffs isn’t really a bar to step over. Its more of a gopher hole in he got stuck and twisted his ankle:
“To his credit, Krugman did condemn the tariffs proposed by President-elect Donald Trump, but the truth is that he never has truly understood economics from the praxeological vantage point, nor has he ever been interested in seeing economics in that way. An economy, to Krugman, is a series of aggregates—consisting of homogeneous labor, natural resources, and capital—all to be manipulated by government agencies and central banks. The idea that demand springs from what we produce in a market economy was anathema to Krugman, who hated that economic doctrine so much that he referred to Jean-Baptiste Say as a “cockroach.””
He’d happily endorse a tariff if it resulted in seizing the means of production.
Nick Fox, one of Paul’s editors over the years, said: “Twenty-five years ago, who could have imagined that a column by an expert in economics (yawn!) would become addictive for millions of Americans? Paul made the complex clear, cut through double talk and obfuscation and wrote in the voice of a tough but beloved teacher. It was remarkable that he could write so enjoyably and insightfully as many as four times a week.”
Ezra Klein, who has had his fellow Opinion columnist on his podcast over the years, said: “I don’t know that there’s anyone alive I have read more words from than Paul Krugman. A beacon of clear, moral and inventive analysis for decades now. What a gift his work has been.”
I am imagining every one of these fat, tallow skinned douchebags lying down naked in a circle, while simultaneously sucking each other’s dick.
Among the many things we appreciate about Paul is that he’s always been game to engage with readers. Liriel Higa, Opinion’s Audience director, put it this way: “Despite being a Nobel winner, Paul was incredibly accessible. He responded to readers in comments on his articles; he touted the benefits of air fryers in an Opinion TikTok; he loved his cats.”
And on that Nobel: It really has been an honor and a privilege to work with someone of Paul’s stature but also an inspiration to see the deep care and strong work ethic that he devotes to his journalism.
Please join me in congratulating our colleague for so many great columns and a ride at The Times worthy of the best bull market. We wish you all the best, Paul.
— Kathleen Kingsbury, Opinion Editor
That’s funny they say that because earlier this year he blocked replies on his X account. TOTALLY ACCESSIBLE.
As for me I will be doing exactly what I believe I should be doing: DECLARING VICTORY. Krugman couldn’t hack it in a digital world so he is going to do the first sensible thing he’s ever done and shut the fuck up! Nah, he’ll probably show up on Bill Maher or the View or something. At least I am still here standing!
As for me, what will I do? Same thing I always do: whatever you want for a price.
Unfortunately, the Ayn Rand people want money for their work.
I thought you also wanted money for your work?
The Old Man has a tab with me going back to 1986.
But that’s okay because he criticized BLOCK INSANE YO MAMA for not progging hard enough?
Is this a hint at Winston’s Mom’s real identity?
She plays the cello?
Yeah, that set off my shibboleth alarm too.
Not buying it. It’s a false clue.
I’ve forgotten, which idiot kept using that stupid name?
Not sure but John maybe?
Not John. Lonewhacko I think?
That sounds just like something KILLARY CLIT-TONGUE would say!
It always cracked me up that a, presumably, grown adult would engage in such childish name-calling.
And, it wasn’t even clever.
Nah, he’ll probably show up on Bill Maher or the View or something.
Thomas Sowell worked is working on his photography and continuing to write good books in his retirement. Sowell is just all around better.
And he does not mess up sentences
Macroeconomic analysis is a deep hole, so I would contend we aren’t really lacking it as sensibly avoiding it.
deep hole
Please. I’m the abyss staring back at you, dear.
Don’t forget to feed the abyss.
Paul became an essential read in Opinion, helping countless readers become more fluent in and mindful of how trade, taxes, technology, the markets, labor and capital intersected with political leadership, ideology and partisanship to shape the lives of people across America and the world.
With a heavy emphasis on politics and partisanship.
I’m not sure they understand the meaning of “essential.”
Not me! I love Excel! 🥰
WTF is wrong with you?
It saved me so much time doing calculation in college that I can’t help but love it.
I don’t know much about Excel, certainly not as much as I know about Word. I wish I did. I could play with spreadsheets forever, but I have very little need to.
My favorite spreadsheet uses the TODAY function and the DATEDIF function to keep a running countdown to my (tentatively planned) retirement.
Heh.
From the sidebar. YIKES!
Yeah, a spreadsheet can be useful, unlike anything ever done in Powerpoint.
PowerPoint is useful for giving a presentation on romance writing.
Power point is fine as a tool.
The vast majority of presenters are horrible.
“Show me on the spreadsheet where the PowerPoint slide ravished you.”
PPT gave the world Edward Tufte. I’m sorry I didn’t around to one of his classes when he was traveling.
Vast majority of people are useless.
All 15 of my history lectures are on PowerPoint. I can have audience looking at photos, maps, pictures, etc. instead of looking at my homely phiz.
I went the WordPerfect route to start with, so I’ll still prefer there methods over the MS way of doing things. Now I, like most right thinking people, use LibreOffice.
Looks like WordPerfect needs to work on their grammar check.
WordPerfect. Mixed feelings about that, but one thing it did for me was “show hidden characters.” People totally can’t understand how I can stand to look at my screen with all that crap. I can’t function on a blank screen.
👍
Reveal code! ¡Dilute!!1!¡!
F3
You should see the Xmas sweater of that.
Excel was a great tool, until 365, now it is bloated and intrusive.
It tries to be a database tool and poorly replaces the poor former database tool, ACCESS.
Fuck “the Cloud” and the idiotic decision makers who think that is the good way to go because they don’t understand what decision they actually made and couldn’t VLOOKUP their way out of a paper bag.
It’s not about the users. It’s about the subscription $$$.
I had to buy 365 for my transcription and I had to jump through hoops to keep it from changing my current installation of Office. It still changed some things, but at least I don’t have to be logged into my M$ account to work.
I actually miss Access. It was so easy to grab spreadsheets/CSV files and drop them in a table to run queries.
I still use ACCESS every day because I can do local DB/spreadsheet things at warp speed compared to Excel. But now I can’t share a single linked ACCESS DB on the cloud with co-workers.
Shared choices require me to run slow versions in Excel or creating really good running monstrosities in R/TOAD that take significant time to set up.
It’s not about the users. It’s about the subscription $$$.
Hey, I don’t have to pay someone to maintain a server. Fuck them IT guys.
Pretty sure Sharepoint replaced Access as a database tool, judging by the work of our staff.
Gustave Lytton:
Sharepoint needs to be burned with cleansing fire.
?
MS Access still exists. I’ve used it a few times at work recently.
Yes ACCESS still exists, but it functions woefully in a cloud environment.
I think that Microsoft plans to stop supporting it and force users into some other platform, external to the Office Suite.
They’re heading to an Adobe subscription model.
Please if you haven’t used Lotus 123 for DOS, OS/2 and Win 3.1 you haven’t been around.
Excel was fine until the UI experts got a hold of it and added the fucking random ribbon of features.
And Neph, my company still provides MS Access as a standard install I use it regularly. It’s fine as a single user or light duty DB despite the haters. Way better than manually manipulating sheets full of vlookup bullshit.
I played with Lotus 123 for DOS on a green screen… but I was also a kid at the time, and had no idea what the program was even for.
I can’t see Lotus without thinking of that hellish creation that is Lotus Notes.
The move from standardized menus (with keyboard shortcuts identified clearly) to ribbon interfaces still baffles me. You made it more difficult and slower to find features to make it more n00b friendly. I still routinely fuck up in Explorer and go Alt-F, N for File -> New (which used to then go for folder, file, etc. but now goes to a new window).
Also played with Lotus 123, but never needed to use it for anything.
Windows 3.x, you say?
I Still can’t find anything I’m looking for on the stupid ribbon.
Fun fact, the only article of mine ever rejected for Glibs was a rant about the ribbon.
123 for DOS was interesting. You had the main program. A separate program for printing and report generation using specialized saved output from the main program. And finally a charting program using different saved output from the main program.
Lotus completely fucked themselves when the believed IBM and developed for OS/2 well ahead of Windows. Excel came out like 18 months earlier as GUI based and multitasking. No multiple applications. People switched in droves.
There was even a 123 cheat bar that used all the slash command in Excel.
Whenever I’d get a new install of Word at work, the very first thing I would do is customize the ribbon as much as I could. Over time, it got harder to get what I wanted. I don’t think there has been a single “upgrade” to Word in 20 years that improved my productivity.
Fuck. That.
You know you can save your Word settings to import to a new installation?
In 2008 I was forced to use Lotus123 when I went to work for the giant international corp. I was horrified by it coming from Outlook.
Er, well, Lotus something for email, not sure what at this point.
Did not know that, but over time there were a number of things that the new versions simply wouldn’t do, so I doubt importing a file would have given me my optimal setup regardless.
ZWAK That’s Lotus Notes.
Whatever it was, it sucked.
lol I had a rant about the Ribbon when I “blogged” for all of a month or two.
I can’t believe it’s still around – it violates like every dictum of good UX.
There was a period of time (90-95ish) where 123 was still a better product than Excel. A lot of the one key short-cut stuff that worked in 123 and in WordPerfect were translated over into Microsoft and still work (in Excel) or can be enabled (in Word).
When Windows 95 came out, Lotus 123 and WP were slightly better than the newest Microsoft products, but Powerpoint was worlds better than Harvard Graphics. I think that’s what finally drove the nail in that coffin.
Barber sung to the text of the Agnus Dei:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0LYnNEALm6o
I would pour one out for Pauly but at the cheap irish pub near me they made the guiness 7 50 American so wtf economics wtf
The only problem with a Krugabe retirement is that the Times will surely find someone even dumber to take his place.
Friedman already has that covered.
There’s always the chance this could be Winston’s Mom’s big break.
Then they sure have their work cut out for them.
I should have been more concise. Paul is not as dumb as he is a raging lying propagandist. One might be bothered to try and parse a dumb person’s thoughts in case there is something there worth noting. Not so with Krugman. Nothing he has to say is worth spending time on.
They could probably use AI to replace him.
Can AI really replace genuine stupidity?
It does take a certain amount of creativity to take every single thing that happens and force it into a “Democrats good, Republicans bad” mold.
Karl Marx is dead, otherwise he would be the top candidate.
Heather Cox Richardson suddenly perks up…
I have to wonder if all the fart-sniffing as demonstrated in the quoted article above is genuine or if they all just laugh their asses off while cashing their checks.
Missed it if anyone mentioned already.
David Drake passed away.
https://david-drake.com/
Hammers Slammers got me into sci-fi.
I love hammers slammers. That’s a bummer, I read most of his books.
I did. He’d been in declining health for a while.
Wasn’t my first, but I enjoyed the heck out of his stuff until his endless collabs. They seemed to miss a bit.
Barack Obama hadn’t even taken office in 2009 when Paul memorably took apart the president-elect’s prescription for the Great Recession: “The economic plan he’s offering isn’t as strong as his language about the economic threat,” Paul wrote. “In fact, it falls well short of what’s needed.”
We could have had a giant spike in inflation 15 years ago, if we had just had the political will to stimulus harder.
Exactly. He didn’t spend enough according to Krugman.
Trustbustering
The stock reaction on Wednesday appeared to be in response to new bipartisan legislation that aims to break up PBMs, which was first reported by The Wall Street Journal. PBMs have faced yearslong scrutiny from Congress and the Federal Trade Commission over allegations they inflate drug costs for patients to boost their profits.
The share moves also come as insurance companies and their practices face heightened public criticism following the fatal shooting of Brian Thompson, the CEO of UnitedHealth Group’s insurance arm, last week. Health stocks had already fallen in the days after Thompson’s killing.
A Senate bill, sponsored by Sens. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., and Josh Hawley, R-Mo., would force the companies that own health insurers or PBMs to divest their pharmacy businesses within three years, the Journal reported. The lawmakers told the Journal that a companion bill is scheduled to be introduced in the House on Wednesday.
I’m sure there will be no “unintended” consequences.
whatever you want for a price
Winston’s mom the harlot?
(I mean harlot in only the most complementary and loving way of course)
Additional boilerplate pabulum:
“PBMs have manipulated the market to enrich themselves—hiking up drug costs, cheating employers, and driving small pharmacies out of business,” Warren said in a release. “My new bipartisan bill will untangle these conflicts of interest by reining in these middlemen.”
They should be converted to nonprofit NGOs.
Government has manipulated the market to enrich itself.
I am imagining every one of these fat, tallow skinned douchebags lying down naked in a circle, while simultaneously sucking each other’s dick.
And fuck you very much for making me imagine it too.
🥳
We finished our upgrade and only triggered a single Sev 2.
“Even the most tough-minded writer finds it hard to avoid portentousness”
He said, portentously.
Happy shark
https://x.com/LuckyMcGee/status/1867280739789943275
The Fury Dump Gold Coast is also . . . . eyecatching.
Someone needs an intervention.
https://x.com/OwenGregorian/status/1867289149948277212
JFC
Look at the expression of her SS agent off to the left.
Watched with no audio.
The body language tells the whole story.
She definitely wants cake.
English as a 3rd or 4th language? Keep her away from the open bar before she starts talking.
Right on cue:
https://babylonbee.com/news/kamala-harris-named-person-of-the-year-by-wine-enthusiast
OMG
Don’t talk about the future Gov of Cali like that, everybody knows she likes sucking down the sauce. If it keeps her put of national politics I’m all for it.
We dodged a bullet because holee shit, if she was elected, we would be in for a world of pain.
“This presentation brought to you by the Napa Valley Wine Growers Collective.
Next year in California, Make Drinking Great Again!”
The body language tells the whole story.
She looks like a great weight has been lifted off her shoulders. It’s not impostor “syndrome” if you really are an impostor.
The nation’s serious newspaper, folks.
Apparently, like so many other words, they’ve redefined “democracy” to mean “establishment rule”, only they didn’t bother to tell the dictionary to change it this time.
Inspector General report says the FBI had 26 “sources” in the crowd on J6.
https://nypost.com/2024/12/12/us-news/doj-watchdog-says-fbi-had-26-confidential-sources-in-dc-for-jan-6-riot-but-no-evidence-of-undercover-agents/
Sounds like a Brady evidence rule violation – correct me if wrong Glib Lawyers.
Trump’s going to pardon them all.
Sure, sure…no FBI agents are in Patriot Front either.
“We found no evidence in the materials we reviewed or the testimony we received showing or suggesting that the FBI had undercover employees in the various protest crowds, or at the Capitol, on January 6″
First bit is “The FBI did not admit to,” and plainclothes is not undercover, right?
Fox News: DOJ IG reveals 26 FBI informats present on Jan 6 . . . . .
CNN: No undercover FBI agents were at the Jan 6 . . . .
I expect both of those can be true at the same time.
But, I also expect that the second point is a lie.
a day late and a dollar short
*sad trombone*
CNN’s parsing: It’s a true lie.
Malinformation.
It’s a truth that just doesn’t look good, therefore it’s wrongthink.
How not to interact with the po-leese:
https://x.com/ClownWorld_/status/1867028668956152242
Part 1
https://x.com/ClownWorld_/status/1867029840874049929
Part 2
https://x.com/ClownWorld_/status/1867030965232734240
Part 3
https://apnews.com/article/trump-faa-aviation-c6501489e7b633d6eeaf14821324f93c
Head of the Federal Aviation Administration to resign, allowing Trump to pick his successor
cool
Paging OBE. Mr. OBE to the white courtesy phone, please.
Yeah I got his ‘platitude’ filled memo this AM. Whitaker was a nobody really in terms of FAA.
However, I will note he tossed a grenade in the direction of Boeing that I am sure Boeing lawyers will find interesting.
*not that Boeing doesn’t deserve the shitshow they created.
**also, he will probably catch that grenade when he gets hired at Boeing and toss it back to the FAA
To make sure that Trump can’t quickly restart construction on a border wall, Biden Admin is auctioning off the materials for nothing.
https://x.com/EndWokeness/status/1867278347610599633
Crazy.
how does one auction something for nothing?
money ain’t for nothing and the chicks are free
Let me tell you, them guys ain’t dumb.
Looks like starting price, not realized price
For Mojeaux.
To make sure that Trump can’t quickly restart construction on a border wall, Biden Admin is auctioning off the materials for nothing.
And they are firehosing money in all directions so President Cartoon Villain can’t refuse to spend it.
Skeet skeet skeet!
Listen all y’all
It’s sabotage
Apparently that Iranian drone mothership does exist:
https://www.zerohedge.com/military/satellite-footage-reveals-iranian-mothership-drone-carriers-exist-just-not-near-new-jersey
It’s in the Strait of Hormuz though. What was that congresscritter smoking?
My guess…Raytheon or GD testing hivemind drone technology on sea-based operations.
That is my take. They are of course going to lie about it. And you would want to test under realistic circumstances, which would mean congested areas with a lot of radio interference.
While I’ll be glad to see Krugman ride off in a cloud of putrid dust, I’m sure that there will be someone equally vile to fill his shoes.
Hahahaha. What a bunch of self-serving claptrap from Times. He’s a blowhard who argued in a newspaper column. He wasn’t making policy, he was regurgitating Democrat talking points. In what world was he possibly holding anyone to account?? Did people turn themselves into the thought police after a scathing Krugman about them?
He was “a lonely voice” whose own allies will quickly forget the pablum he spouted in his columns. Good riddance.
He redefined “the powerful” to mean Republicans. The Democrats are the poor and downtrodden peoples and the politicians who fight for justice and have no power.
See how easy that is?
Democrats still think of themselves as counterculture. As the good guys, while the evil Republicans only represent the rich. This election disproves that lie, but they’re gonna keep with it as if it’s 1987.