Niall Ferguson Takes On Paul Krugman... Again

Niall Ferguson, Author of Ascent Of Money & High Financier says Paul Krugman's idea that more spending will help the US economy is 'nuts'.

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[Muwt]

Eh?!

He dismisses false dichotomy, then presents one with indefinite stimulus which no one's suggesting, then suggests more of the same supply side policy we've had for decades up to the meltdown.

It's amazing what nonsense you can get away with by trumpetting academic qualifications and speaking confidently.

[OutlawTomFantastic]

@warwize What do you mean "even with heavy regulation"? You talk as though somehow regulations help the consumers. Regulations are there for companies to put barriers up to prevent other companies from competing fairly. The government should get out of the regulation business altogether and have a free market. Free markets are when common people (consumers or whatever word you want to use) win every time.

[15Arigold]

@FreeMeFromG "Niall wants the average joe to pay for mistakes his friends made."

How is this true? Krugman is the one who wants another tax payer funded bailout, and Ferguson is the one who opposes it.

[HPhenomenal]

@blakerwalk This is the Indian version of CNBC actually...not the American one.

[blakerwalk]

Ferguson knows how to speak to an American audience: slowly, briefly, and inserting sensationalist words like 'death spiral'. It's sad that he has to dumb it down for CNBC, but his points are right on the mark, imho.

[vince33x]

@Muwt What?! We were engaged in "Supply-Side" economics during the Reagan and Clinton years (16 years) and then Bush went to war for Israel in Iraq, and sent gov't spending over a cliff - he did not veto a single spending bill during the 1st 7 yrs. of his presidency! The economic meltdown of 2008 was due mostly to: 1) Fed keeping interest rates too low for too long, 2) Carter and Clinton support of CRA, 3) Fanny and Freddie buying sub-prime mortgages and bundling 4 WS and Goldman Sachs.

[FreeMeFromG]

Easy to take on Paul Krugman, when he isn't there. Niall wants the average joe to pay for mistakes his friends made.

This stuff is getting far too easy to see through and his fancy British accent isn't making his case any stronger. Nice try Fergy

[damrak1969]

I liked the last 2 minutes when he talked about his book and the radial idea that the "bottom line" isn't the end all, be all of the financial world. The "short term profit" mindset is what has gotten us into the fix we are in - doing whatever it takes to make this quaters financial statement a little bigger by hook of by crook no matter what the damage is to the longterm health of the economy. Now we reap the fruits of this mindset with a crashing economy. Sometimes less is more...

[USASecretHistory]

Niall Ferguson, Author of Asses Of Money & High Financier, has his head up his Ivy League ass. Why did he fail to speak about the stimulus spending on saving the too big too fail private institutions. He talks about cutting public spending without mentioning that many corpoarations don't pay their taxes and in some cases receive tax rebates from the US government even after not paying a cent on taxes. No, the truth is clear. This man is a slave ape for the corporations.

[warwize]

@OutlawTomFantastic

unfortunately we can only imagine that scenario, free-markets and perfect competition haven't existed to be tested or observed.

what we do know is that companies can cause externalities and they prefer to collude with one another to fix prices and increase their market power...like the lysine incident.

[OutlawTomFantastic]

@warwize Consumers are king in a free market, sometimes known as a consumer market. You see, people can buy products and services from whoever they choose. If they don't like a product, people will bail on the company and it goes under quite quickly (unless of course the idiot government subsidizes a company in some respect). No one forces consumers to buy a product they don't like. Free markets are where common people get the most bang for their buck.