{"id":4136,"date":"2011-07-19T09:10:25","date_gmt":"2011-07-19T15:10:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.edgewiseblog.com\/mjh\/nada\/the-idea-that-if-families-are-tightening-their-belts-the-government-should-do-the-same-is-as-deeply-intuitive-as-it-is-deeply-wrong-paul-krugman\/"},"modified":"2011-07-19T09:10:25","modified_gmt":"2011-07-19T15:10:25","slug":"the-idea-that-if-families-are-tightening-their-belts-the-government-should-do-the-same-is-as-deeply-intuitive-as-it-is-deeply-wrong-paul-krugman","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.edgewiseblog.com\/mjh\/nada\/the-idea-that-if-families-are-tightening-their-belts-the-government-should-do-the-same-is-as-deeply-intuitive-as-it-is-deeply-wrong-paul-krugman\/","title":{"rendered":"“[T]he idea that if families are tightening their belts, the government should do the same, is as deeply intuitive as it is deeply wrong.” Paul Krugman"},"content":{"rendered":"

I wasn\u2019t surprised the Albuquerque Journal gave so much space to Mike Frese, \u201cCorrales resident\u201d, to repeat the hoary nonsense about the national debt as a \u2018family problem.\u2019 Family is the<\/strong> metaphor for conservatives \u2013 especially, Christian conservatives \u2013 because father knows best. Feel free to read Frese\u2019s column<\/a> in its long-drawn-out, ham-handed entirety, if you need your invalid metaphors spelled out in detail.<\/p>\n

Be sure to read Winthrop Quigley\u2019s entire column \u2013 as usual, he explains things quite clearly.<\/p>\n

ABQJournal Online \u00bb Flirting With Federal Debt Disaster<\/a> <\/p>\n

\n

By Winthrop Quigley \/ Journal Staff Writer<\/a> on Tue, Jul 19, 2011 <\/p>\n

It is possible some of these politicians really don\u2019t understand what we\u2019re dealing with. Every time one of them compares federal finances with household finances \u2013 arguing we should tear up the credit card and balance the checkbook and live within our means, just like families do \u2013 the intellectual dead end has been reached. <\/p>\n

The federal government is nothing like the family household. It is a very large, poorly run business with a micromanaging board of directors (Congress) and a weak CEO (the president).<\/font> <\/p>\n

The business is failing. Refusing to raise the debt ceiling is the equivalent of pre-bailout General Motors reneging on its commitments to pay its steel suppliers and fund its employees\u2019 retirement plans. \u2026 <\/p>\n

If the prospect of suddenly unemployed federal workers in every state and unpaid military personnel under fire in Afghanistan doesn\u2019t impress Congress, perhaps this will: In September 2008, the Lehman Brothers\u2019 bankruptcy filing cratered the global economy because suddenly no one knew if the institutions making up the world\u2019s financial systems could or would honor their obligations. <\/p>\n

Lehman Bros. had $639 billion in assets, about as much as it takes to run the government for slightly more than two months. It had debts of $619 billion. The failure of a firm that was in the black to the tune of $20 billion nearly destroyed the global financial system. You don\u2019t want to see what happens if Uncle Sam becomes the next Lehman Bros.<\/font><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

ABQJournal Online \u00bb Flirting With Federal Debt Disaster<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p><\/blockquote>\n

[hat tip to Line of the day | NewMexiKen<\/a> for the Krugman quote]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I wasn\u2019t surprised the Albuquerque Journal gave so much space to Mike Frese, \u201cCorrales resident\u201d, to repeat the hoary nonsense about the national debt as a \u2018family problem.\u2019 Family is the metaphor for conservatives \u2013 especially, Christian conservatives \u2013 because father knows best. Feel free to read Frese\u2019s column in its long-drawn-out, ham-handed entirety, if … Continue reading “[T]he idea that if families are tightening their belts, the government should do the same, is as deeply intuitive as it is deeply wrong.” Paul Krugman<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23,10],"tags":[44],"class_list":["post-4136","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-media","category-nada","tag-newmexiken-2"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.edgewiseblog.com\/mjh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4136","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.edgewiseblog.com\/mjh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.edgewiseblog.com\/mjh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.edgewiseblog.com\/mjh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.edgewiseblog.com\/mjh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4136"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.edgewiseblog.com\/mjh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4136\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.edgewiseblog.com\/mjh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4136"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.edgewiseblog.com\/mjh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4136"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.edgewiseblog.com\/mjh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4136"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}