The New York Times’s insufferable economics columnist Paul Krugman found an innovative way to fool himself into arguing that Biden’s disastrous policies beat inflation.
Krugman pontificated on X (formerly Twitter) on Oct. 11 that, “The war on inflation is over. We won, at very little cost,” using a graph to illustrate that inflation. However, his graph erroneously excluded variables such as food, energy, shelter and used cars. No further context was provided to justify these exclusions. Krugman’s brief and embarrassing defense of Bidenomics was ironically released the same day as a Bureau of Labor Statistics’ report revealing that inflation actually rose hotter than expected in September: “The consumer price index, a closely followed inflation gauge, increased 0.4% on the month and 3.7% from a year ago.” In other words, in Krugman’s ridiculous view, America is beating inflation handily — er — if one just eliminates all the things everyday Americans need to survive from consideration.
The war on inflation is over. We won, at very little cost pic.twitter.com/opumf3nEvL
— Paul Krugman (@paulkrugman) October 12, 2023
The take was so bad that satire site Babylon Bee Editor-in-Chief Kyle Mann mocked Krugman’s post, noting that his website had already thought of this tenuous defense two years earlier. Mann posted a screenshot of an early 2021 Bee article headlined: “Psaki Reassures: ‘Inflation Completely Under Control Outside Of Food, Gas, And Housing.’”
When you become a Babylon Bee article from 2 years ago pic.twitter.com/KExnLyz83S
— Kyle Mann (@The_Kyle_Mann) October 12, 2023
Heritage Foundation economist EJ Antoni also blasted Krugman’s bush league argument: If you just ignore all of the stuff that people buy, there's no inflation. Who needs to eat, or live somewhere, or stay warm, or to drive? What a disgrace to the Nobel Prize…”
It’s worth remembering that this is the same Krugman who admitted publicly that he was abysmally “wrong” on his “transitory” inflation calls going back to 2021. But that hasn’t stopped him from trying to manufacture a win out of nowhere. He’s even browbeat Americans who didn’t believe the economy was as good as he claimed it was.
It's good to hear that outside of used cars and the basic needs of human life and industrial society, Americans have triumphed over inflation, eh Krugman?
Following widespread ridicule, Krugman conceded on Friday morning that he “was too flip here,” before trying to salvage his argument.
Conservatives are under attack! Contact The New York Times at 800-698-4637 and demand it distance itself from Krugman’s shilling for Bidenomics.
