Paul Krugman Rocks My World

He rocks. I heard him last night at the Flint Center in beautiful Cupertino, CA on the campus of De Anza College. He was witty, funny, and elucidating - or as much as one can be when discussing the economic nuclear holocaust in which we are currently engulfed. It wasn't happy news, people - optimist, perhaps, he is not. Realist, though, he most certainly is- tempered by a heavy dose of intelligent liberalism. And he saw this one coming - read his book.

His talk in a nutshell: we will be out of this recession in 15 years according to the only statistic that truly matters to the general public: unemployment at the same rate before it began in 2007. For us to get from the current 10.2% to the before-the-recession rate of 5%, it will take about 15 years at the current rate of economic growth. Asked whether or not this downturn/depression will contribute in the long-term to economic inequality, he answered that in the short-term, no. But in the long-term, it remains to be seen. I'm guessing yes.

In between those dire predictions, he talked about the bank bailout, which is separate from the stimulus package, executive pay, and other pertinent topics. He mentioned that executive bonuses are detrimental in that they are actually so large that they take away from the capital that these banks so desperately needed, but they wouldn't otherwise be super offensive. From a public relations perspective, though, they are a disaster.

The final conclusion of the night: we need more stimulus, even though it is a political fantasy not grounded in possibility, much less probability. We needed about $1.4 trillion back in January, not the measley $700 billion we got, and so things are more sluggish than they could be. He also recommended some kind of huge job stimulus like the Works Progress Administration or the Civilian Conservation Corps of the 1930s (to which, by the way, we owe our National Parks). Can't say that it would be a bad idea, though that kind of "socialist takeover of our economy" would never happen with this Congress.

Anyway, he rocks. Check out one of his recent columns from the New York Times. Also, kudos to the host of the night, Dick Henning, and founder of the Celebrity Forum Speaker Series, who was hilarious. My favorite joke of the night: "Winston Churchill and Mrs. Nancy Astor used to have frequent heated discussions at the bar. On one occasion, Mr. Churchill said to Mrs. Astor, "Madam you are ugly." To which she responded, "Mr. Churchill, you are drunk." Mr. Churchill retorted: "Yes, but tomorrow, I'll be sober!" It's a good one. That Winston Churchill...

Toodles, my wonderful followers and infrequent readers! Hope you enjoyed your time spent here- I know I did.