tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7225373.post424682289674630579..comments2024-02-29T03:34:23.190-05:00Comments on Who Were the Sea Peoples?: Krugman Is Either Having a Brain Freeze, or...gcallahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10065877215969589482noreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7225373.post-3672958518718876922011-04-23T11:30:10.418-04:002011-04-23T11:30:10.418-04:00scineram, Landsburg handled that well in the comme...scineram, Landsburg handled that well in the comments, I thought: he said sure there might be unused resources, but the government doesn't need to tax anyone to bring those into use; it can just print money. So taking the miser's $84 million and using it to hire laid-off workers is economically the equivalent of printing $84 million and hiring the workers.gcallahhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10065877215969589482noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7225373.post-58605390715212801292011-04-23T10:01:53.036-04:002011-04-23T10:01:53.036-04:00I think the main problem with Landsburg is the oth...I think the main problem with Landsburg is the other thing DeLong said. We are far from full employment and there could be plenty idle resource around. Also, not all goods are rivalrous. If the government updated the software for a bureaucracy or bought elevator music from iTunes, no one would have to consume less.scineramhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00142605759954423474noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7225373.post-30344030884165813372011-04-22T18:58:53.757-04:002011-04-22T18:58:53.757-04:00Gene wrote:
Well, he certainly doesn't claim...Gene wrote: <br /><br /><i>Well, he certainly doesn't claim it's impossible to tax any rich person, just this particular rich person.</i><br /><br />If the IRS seized his $84 million, I think most libertarians would get upset at the outrageous taxation. :)Bob Murphyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04001108408649311528noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7225373.post-563899479640371482011-04-22T15:47:19.804-04:002011-04-22T15:47:19.804-04:00Well, he certainly doesn't claim it's impo...Well, he certainly doesn't claim it's impossible to tax any rich person, just this particular rich person.gcallahhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10065877215969589482noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7225373.post-10750248577542777482011-04-22T00:31:54.729-04:002011-04-22T00:31:54.729-04:00Good point Gene. I didn't spell that out in my...Good point Gene. I didn't spell that out in my own (exasperated) reaction to Krugman, but you're right, that is the fundamental thing going on here. He is assuming that Landsburg was saying the purpose of taxation was to reduce consumption, when that's not what Landsburg was saying.<br /><br />On the other hand, I can't quite get up the tenacity to go to bat 100% for a guy who says it is literally impossible to tax a rich person. I mean, no it's not. You can tax a rich person. What Landsburg should have said is that doing so wouldn't ease the deficit problem (in terms of real resources) falling on everybody else, because of blah blah blah.Bob Murphyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04001108408649311528noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7225373.post-68931720525215490252011-04-21T21:27:15.506-04:002011-04-21T21:27:15.506-04:00This has precedent, Mr. Callahan.
Every time I go...This has precedent, Mr. Callahan.<br /><br />Every time I go to DeLong's blog and read the comments, I feel the commenters are just being sycophants who shout out, "Yeah, that guy...that guy DeLong is talking about...he, uh, he is STUPID!"<br /><br />For example, DeLong made a modest criticism of a small point made by Greg Mankiw. The commenter's response?<br /><br />"Greg Mankiw is a REPUBLICAN HACK!"<br /><br />"I don't know why we take Mankiw seriously anymore."<br /><br />"They only bother talking about that guy because he teaches at Harvard."<br /><br />"Greg Mankiw knows NOTHING about economics."<br /><br />So these armchair internet PhDs have decided in their infinite wisdom who is or is not a worthy economist. I really hope those commenters are just college students or high school students.<br /><br />I will be shocked if they turn out to be other economics professors.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com