Krugman: Policy elites are like cult priests demanding human sacrifice
by Gaius Publius on 8/21/2010 12:29:00 AM
Some Friday Krugman for your early morning pleasure (my emphasis):
As I look at what passes for responsible economic policy these days, there’s an analogy that keeps passing through my mind. I know it’s over the top, but here it is anyway: the policy elite - central bankers, finance ministers, politicians who pose as defenders of fiscal virtue - are acting like the priests of some ancient cult, demanding that we engage in human sacrifices to appease the anger of invisible gods.
So how do austerians deal with the reality of interest rates that are plunging, not soaring? The latest fashion is to declare that there’s a bubble in the bond market: investors aren’t really concerned about economic weakness; they’re just getting carried away. It’s hard to convey the sheer audacity of this argument: first we were told that we must ignore economic fundamentals and instead obey the dictates of financial markets; now we’re being told to ignore what those markets are actually saying because they’re confused. . . . It seems almost superfluous, given all that, to mention the final insult: many of the most vocal austerians are, of course, hypocrites.
After his audacious opening analogy (perfectly appropriate, in my view), the Professor closes with his usual soft ending - a question, not an answer. The question: What will it take to break the hold of this cruel cult on the minds of the policy elite?
The answer: Look at your opening analogy. Priests like these have only one goal, and it's not to please invisible gods. It's to keep the priestly caste in power. The obvious answer is thus to remove them from power.
Someone needs to rid us of these meddlesome priests. If you're not working toward that goal, sir, you're preaching to the deliberately deaf. They won't walk out on their own, based on some stunning argument.
(Psst - Read your own book.)
GP