I don't think governments are good at much but I also don't think libertarians have better solutions. Thanks for the post, you make good points with which I agree. Krugman and oversimplification are two peas in a pod.
That's generally true when writing any opinion piece, but Krugman is trying to take issues that require a PhD in economics to understand and explain them in 500 words to a newspaper audience. The only other alternative is to not cover economics.Krugman and oversimplification are two peas in a pod.
Oversimplification isn't quite the word I meant. More like cherrypicking, which is dangerous because he's the only one in the room with the PhD in economics (although I'm approaching one myself -- maybe -- and I'd disagree that the issues in question are of such complexity).
The big idea of Krugman's piece, and the big idea of mine, are clear enough. I don't think they can both be true. Deciding which one is closer to the truth seems more important than deciding who took more rhetorical liberties. Is it obvious that the government even did more good than harm by getting involved with this issue? Thanks for sharing and responding.Krugman and oversimplification
Simplifying isn't so bad. I reduced years of complex interaction between business interests, customer demand, environmental concern and the possibility of regulation to a few glib sentences.