It seems like every dumbass on this planet has gotten his 15 minutes of fame. Every word that partisan idiot Paul Krugman writes is read by millions of people. He gets his 15 minutes every day.
Do you know what Paul believes? Let me give you a sample. He's talking about global warming.
Ezra Klein — Are you a technological optimist on this?
Paul Krugman — Well, there are different kinds of technological optimists. One kind of technological optimist says we’ll spontaneously develop technologies that give us perfectly clean energy. I think so long as fossil fuels are cheap, people will use them and it will postpone a movement towards new technologies. And then there’s geoengineering, which we may eventually use out of desperation, but is full of unintended consequences and political questions. That won’t affect all countries equally. It will hurt some countries and help others. It would be a helluva thing to throw into the global situation
I’m a technological optimist in that I think if we had appropriate pricing [for fossil fuels], we’d find it remarkably easy [to fix global warming]. The cost of getting out of rising emissions would be much lower than legend has it.
But I’m not politically optimistic that we’ll do that.
In short, we'll fix the emissions problem with a carbon cap & trade market and a supply & demand graph. Getting rid of rising emssions is merely a political decision, just like raising taxes on the rich. Now, really — can a man this dumb really be a professor at Princeton, a columnist with the New York Times, and a Nobel Prize winner in economics?
Sadly, the answer to such questions is always Yes here on Planet Stupid. A person can not achieve the popularity of a Paul Krugman or people like him, regardless of his specific political views, and also harbor even the smallest degree of wisdom. Sorry to give you the bad news, but politics and wisdom simply don't mix, never have, never will. That's not the usual story, is it? Well, that's politics for you— the usual story is a political story! And humans believe it!
And of course, the large majority of humans need to be told what to believe and what to do. A smaller but vigorous minority want to tell them what to believe and what to do.
Politics is the lowest form of human behavior, and thus the most prevalent. And why? Because politics is about power, who has it, who doesn't, and who may get it. It's about who is fucking over who. If some Social Good comes out of politics, it can only occur by accident.
Whether they are participants or spectators, humans are obsessed with politics, although that tendency has had its ultimate flowering here in the Land of the Brave and the Home of the Free. Let me show you the most extreme form of this insane but characteristic obsession.
Sure, rest up. But if you want to really make a difference in American politics, the time to get started is now.
Take a week, take a month, whatever you need to rest up from the 2012 campaign cycle. But then? If you want to really make a difference in American politics, the time to get started is now. Not in September or October 2016, but in the next several months. Here’s why – and five suggestions for what you can do.
If there’s one thing that I try to emphasize to people about American Madisonian democracy, it’s that chances to really effect change are usually found within the parties...
All consuming politicking never stops. The endless maneuvering, the constant posing, the joyful backstabbing—there is no end to it. Political struggles are the human circus. Paul Krugman is just another clown entertaining the masses under the Big Top.
I refuse to stoop that low on this blog. Politics makes you stupid. There is no truth in politics. The struggle for power and popularity is a Monkey Game. I won't play it.
Congratulations. Personally, I'm surprised the NYT put you on p1 w/o having a beard. Though, maybe that is only required if one is mumbling jibberish... dunno.
Posted by: Lew Stewell | 11/11/2012 at 12:26 PM