“Most people, I suspect, still have in their minds an image of America as the great land of college education, unique in the extent to which higher learning is offered to the population at large. That image used to correspond to reality. But these days young Americans are considerably less likely than young people in many other countries to graduate from college. In fact, we have a college graduation rate that's slightly below the average across all advanced economies.” PeopleMindStillsCountryFactsRealityAmericaYoungUsedEconomyLandCollegeHigherUniqueRateAveragePopulationThese DaysSuspectsGraduatesOther CountriesCollege EducationCollege GraduationHigher Learning Author:Paul Krugman
“Many people ... prefer to describe themselves as progressives rather than liberals. To some extent that's a response to the decades-long propaganda campaign conducted by movement conservatives, which has been quite successful in making Americans disdain the word liberal but much less successful in reducing support for liberal policies.” PeopleLongHas BeensSupportSuccessfulPolicyMovementResponseDecadesCampaignsPropagandaReducingDisdain Book:The Conscience of a Liberal Source: The Conscience of a Liberal
“It has been obvious all along, to anyone paying attention, that the politicians shouting loudest about deficits are actually using deficit hysteria as a cover story for their real agenda, which is top-down class warfare. To put it in Romneyesque terms, it's all about finding an excuse to slash programs that help people who like to watch Nascar events, even while lavishing tax cuts on people who like to own Nascar teams.” PeopleHas BeensRealHelpingStoriesTermAttentionClassWatchesCuttingTeamEventsPoliticianTaxesFindingsProgramObviousExcusePay AttentionAgendasWarfareDeficitShoutingHysteriaTax CutsClass WarfareTop DownNascar Author:Paul Krugman
“To the extent that sacrifices need to be made, shouldn't the people who've made out like bandits this past generation be first in line? The problem with getting out of the slump is that we need to spend more. It's not that somebody needs to spend less. We have idle workers who have the skills and the willingness to work. We have idle factories. Dealing with this is not about saying somebody needs to suffer. It's saying that we need to be prepared to open the taps.” PeopleNeedsFirstsMadeProblemPastSufferingLinesGenerationsSacrificeSkillsPreparedWorkersWillingnessFactoriesIdleBe PreparedBanditsSlumpsPast Generations Author:Paul Krugman
“Republican candidates had to appeal to their base, which is by and large elderly white people arguing with empty chairs.” PeopleWhiteRepublicanEmptyArguingAppealsCandidatesChairsElderly Author:Paul Krugman
“Not all private equity people are evil. Only some.” PeopleEvilEquityPrivate Equity Author:Paul Krugman
“I really think that people have to think safety; taking risks for higher yield is a bad idea once you're in late or latish middle age.” PeopleThinkingIdeasAgeRiskMiddleHigherLateSafetyYieldMiddle AgesBad IdeasTaking Risks Author:Paul Krugman
“If you're doing your job right, some substantial group of people [is] going to be mad at you.” PeopleIfsJobsGroupsMad Author:Paul Krugman
“If the price of everything is going down, that's going to include wages as well. People will have an incentive to sit on their cash and not spend it.” PeopleIfsWellsCashWagesIncentives Author:Paul Krugman
“People who are complaining about the Fed are people who've been predicting runaway inflation for five and six years, and it hasn't happened.” PeopleYearsFiveHappenedSixComplainingFedsInflationPredictingRunaway Author:Paul Krugman
“Asset bubbles have happened even without not-so-easy money. And, in a depressed economy, where alternative uses of money are not great, people are going to bid up the prices of profitable corporations and stuff like that.” PeopleUseEasyStuffEconomyHappenedAlternativesCorporationsAssetsBubblesProfitableGreat PeopleEasy Money Author:Paul Krugman
“It's a funny thing, by the way, how people who love free markets are also quite sure that they know that investors are being irrational.” PeopleKnowsWayInvestorsIrrationalFree MarketFunny Things Author:Paul Krugman
“What happened after 9/11 - and I think even people on the right know this, whether they admit it or not - was deeply shameful. The atrocity should have been a unifying event, but instead it became a wedge issue. Fake heroes like Bernie Kerik, Rudy Giuliani, and, yes, George W. Bush raced to cash in on the horror. And then the attack was used to justify an unrelated war the neocons wanted to fight, for all the wrong reasons....The memory of 9/11 has been irrevocably poisoned; it has become an occasion for shame. And in its heart, the nation knows it.” PeopleThinkingKnowsShouldHeartHas BeensWarReasonWantedUsedFightingNationsMemoriesIssuesHappenedEventsHeroHorrorShould HaveShameOccasionsFakeJustifyCashShould Have BeenShamefulAtrocitiesUnifyingWrong ReasonsWedgesRudy Author:Paul Krugman
“America's political landscape is infested with many zombie ideas - beliefs about policy that have been repeatedly refuted with evidence and analysis but refuse to die. The most prominent zombie is the insistence that low taxes on rich people are the key to prosperity.” PeopleHas BeensIdeasAmericaPoliticalDiesBeliefRichPolicyKeysTaxesLowsEvidenceProsperityRefuseLandscapeAnalysisZombieRich PeopleProminentInsistence Author:Paul Krugman
“[T]he next time you hear serious-sounding people explaining the need for fiscal austerity, try to parse their argument. Almost surely, you'll discover that what sounds like hardheaded realism actually rests on a foundation of fantasy, on the belief that invisible vigilantes will punish us if we're bad and the confidence fairy will reward us if we're good. And real-world policy - policy that will blight the lives of millions of working families - is being built on that foundation.” PeopleIfsWorldNeedsTryingRealNextBeliefSoundMillionsFantasyPolicySeriousBuiltArgumentFoundationRewardsInvisibleFairyReal WorldRealismNext TimeExplainingAusterityBlightVigilante Author:Paul Krugman
“What Republicans have actually put on the table is almost nothing. All of the rest is just big talk. So how is the president supposed to negotiate with people who say, 'Here's my demands. By the way, I can't give you any specifics. Just make me happy'?” PeopleWayGivingI CanBigsPresidentRepublicanDemandTablesMake Me HappySpecifics Author:Paul Krugman
“Now, it’s true that some of the protesters are oddly dressed or have silly-sounding slogans, which is inevitable given the open character of the events. But so what? I, at least, am a lot more offended by the sight of exquisitely tailored plutocrats, who owe their continued wealth to government guarantees, whining that President Obama has said mean things about them than I am by the sight of ragtag young people denouncing consumerism.” PeopleMeanSaidCharacterGovernmentYoungGivenPresidentWealthEventsSightSillyInevitableGuaranteesPresident ObamaConsumerismOffendedSlogansWhiningTailored Author:Paul Krugman
“The problem isn't that people don't understand how good things are. It's that they know, from personal experience, that things really aren't that good.” PeopleKnowsProblemEconomicsGood ThingsPersonal Experiences Author:Paul Krugman
“People respond to incentives. If unemployment becomes more attractive because of the unemployment benefit, some unemployed workers may no longer try to find a job or may not try to find one as quickly as they would without the benefit.” PeopleIfsTryingMayPhilosophyJobsPoliticalBenefitsEconomicsWorkersAttractiveUnemploymentIncentivesUnemployedUnemployment Benefits Author:Paul Krugman
“The growth of the Internet will slow drastically, as the flaw in 'Metcalfe's law'–which states that the number of potential connections in a network is proportional to the square of the number of participants–becomes apparent: most people have nothing to say to each other! By 2005 or so, it will become clear that the Internet's impact on the economy has been no greater than the fax machine's.” PeopleHas BeensStatesLawGrowthNumbersEconomyClearGreaterInternetConnectionsMachinesImpactFlawsSquaresParticipantsFaxFax Machines Author:Paul Krugman
“So, very early reports are that Obamacare exchanges are, as expected, having some technical glitches on the first day - maybe even a bit worse than expected, because it appears that volume has been much bigger than predicted. Here’s what you need to know: this is good, not bad, news for the program... Lots of people logging on and signing up on the very first day... is an early indication that it’s going to be fine, that plenty of people will sign up for the first year of health reform.” PeopleKnowsNeedsYearsFirstsHas BeensBitsFineNewsProgramBiggerExpectedPlentyReformReportsVolumeObamacareIndicationBad NewsSigningLoggingGlitchesSigning UpHealth Reform Author:Paul Krugman
“But Wall Street people are in fact very smart; they're funny, they're not company men who work their way up the chain.” PeopleMenWayFactsCompanyStreetsWallSmartChainsVery Smart Author:Paul Krugman
“I think so long as fossil fuels are cheap, people will use them and it will postpone a movement towards new technologies.” PeopleThinkingLongUseTechnologyMovementFuelFossilsFossil FuelNew TechnologyBurning Fossil Fuels Author:Paul Krugman
“The real danger with debt is what happens if lots of people decide, or are forced, to pay it off at the same time.” PeopleIfsRealHappensPayDangerDebt Author:Paul Krugman
“Seven habits that help produce the anything-but-efficient markets that rule the world. 1. Think short term. 2. Be greedy. 3. Believe in the greater fool 4. Run with the herd. 5. Overgeneralize 6. Be trendy 7. Play with other people's money” PeopleThinkingWorldBelievePlayHelpingRunningTermGreaterProduceFoolHabitSevenLibertarianEfficientGreedyShort TermHerdsTrendySeven HabitsEfficient Markets Author:Paul Krugman
“It’s not about the budget; it’s about the power...So will the attack on unions succeed? I don’t know. But anyone who cares about retaining government of the people by the people should hope that it doesn’t.” PeopleKnowsShouldGovernmentCareSucceedUnionsBudgetsWho CaresRetaining Author:Paul Krugman
“Wealthy individuals bought themselves a radical right party, believing - correctly - that it would cut their taxes and remove regulations, but failed to realize that eventually the craziness would take on a life of its own, and that the monster they created would turn on its creators as well as the little people.” PeopleBelieveWellsLittlesTurnsIndividualRealizingPartyCuttingTaxesCreatorMonstersRadicalRemoveWealthyRegulationTurn-onCraziness Author:Paul Krugman
“Are you, or is someone you know, a gadget freak? If so, you doubtless know that Wednesday was iPhone 5 day, the day Apple unveiled its latest way for people to avoid actually speaking to or even looking at whoever they're with.” PeopleIfsKnowsWayFunnyTechnologyApplesFreakIphoneGadgetsWednesdayIphone 5 Author:Paul Krugman
“The science fiction world has a lot of people doing seriously imaginative thinking.” PeopleThinkingWorldFictionScience FictionImaginative Author:Paul Krugman
