An excerpt:
Many people, myself included, have been worried about uncertainty. I still am, in fact. I think much of the layoffs and economic issues now is that firms don't know what to expect. This is the uncertainty over government policy. And this matters!
But does the type of uncertainty from a government shutdown impact business hiring over the long term? Of course not. Nobody believes this will last too long, and it shouldn't affect any long term planing. It is a convenient way to attack opponents, however.
Krugman closes:
“Remember when Republicans were worried about ‘economic uncertainty’?”
Actually, no, I don’t. I remember when they claimed to be worried about economic uncertainty — but it was completely obvious even at the time that this was nothing but an attempt to put a new, quasi-academic gloss on the same old same old.
Many people, myself included, have been worried about uncertainty. I still am, in fact. I think much of the layoffs and economic issues now is that firms don't know what to expect. This is the uncertainty over government policy. And this matters!
But does the type of uncertainty from a government shutdown impact business hiring over the long term? Of course not. Nobody believes this will last too long, and it shouldn't affect any long term planing. It is a convenient way to attack opponents, however.
Krugman closes:
The point is that there are a lot fewer good-faith economic arguments out there than a naive observer might think — and that’s precisely because powerful forces are doing their best to hoodwink said naive observers.I think he believes this - Krugman has made millions being one of these "powerful forces".
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