Gilded Rage
Recently, The Economist published an unusually astute review of Paul Krugman’s The Conscience of a Liberal. Krugman offered a surprisingly unconvincing reply, which was pretty thoroughly demolished by The Economist‘s Free Exchange blog. I think it’s precisely because no one questions Krugman’s richly deserved reputation as one of the great economists of his generation that he was so careless and even disdainful. But the funniest part is that Krugman relied, somewhat bizarrely, on the hyperbolic words of journalist Robert Frank, the author of Richistan and the man behind the Wall Street Journal‘s Wealth Report blog. Because Frank was painting in broad strokes in order to produce an entertaining book, he talked about the rich as though they lived in a parallel country, “evidence” that Krugman, who dismisses detailed studies on consumption, considers dispositive.
Here’s the thing: Robert Frank seems to agree with The Economist.
We can all marvel at or complain about the mansions, Jaguars, jets and clothing of the rich. Yet most Americans live material lives equal to or better than the rich of yesteryear. Despite the best efforts of luxury marketers to convince us that driving a Jaguar is 10 times better than driving a Hyundai, or that flying Netjets is 100 times better than flying Jet Blue, the differences are tiny compared to those who can’t afford to fly or drive at all.
So along with incomes and net worth, we should all add consumption to our accepted measures of inequality — even if it’s not popular in certain political circles.
My guess is that Krugman will now dismiss Frank, his source, as an extremist hack.
Well, sure, he kind of pre-dismissed Frank in his original rebuttal anyways: something to the effect of, he works for the Wall Street Journal, so he’s an extremist hack anyways, but here I was being nice and quoting him in the book and everything.
To be honest though I think that in a very real though irrational way Krugman’s thin-skinnedness vastly increases his credibility with me. I mean, boy, he really doesn’t care at all to be argued with and responds nastily when he is (remember his fit of pique with Daniel Okrent?)
But I mean, that just makes him come across more as the very intelligent, very accomplished college professor he is, man. I mean, I’ve known some real geniuses — MacArthur and all — of university professors. Some were surprisingly, damn nice guys with no ego. But most of ‘em were frankly not great human beings and I’ve often theorized that that actually helps them, career-wise (Boy he’s a dick….he must be brilliant.) I don’t even necessarily mean that as a damn — I can think of brilliant, accomplished faculty with good hearts who I liked, and admired, and nonetheless think are big time assholes with thin skins and vindictive streaks (Hell, Jacobs is sort of getting at the fact, below, that Andre Sullivan seems much this way: a nice, decent, humane guy who is really, really, thin-skinned).
The point being, I think you’re holding Krugman to the wrong standard. There’s argument and there’s argument: some dickishness actually helps Krugman.
— Sanjay · Jan 3, 01:36 AM · #
Krugman’s WSJ remark is laughable, because apart from the op-ed page — Frank isn’t part of the op-ed page — the WSJ is, like most newspapers, full of sensible, mostly left-of-center professionals who do their best to tell it like it is. The notion that anyone affiliated with the WSJ is a right-winger is simply obtuse.
I always need to emphasize this: Krugman is amazing, and he’s also my favorite seer.
— Reihan · Jan 3, 02:13 AM · #
I’m not disagreeing with your assessment of WSJ writers, just saying what I think Krugman said.
Now, look at Mankiw’s blog. Always courteous and complimentary even when he flat out disagrees with somebody. A model of civil academic discourse. So ya GOTTA figger the dude is overrated. See how it works? And I swear, it shames me but I think like that…..
— Sanjay · Jan 3, 05:07 AM · #
Oh, I know you were characterizing Krugman.
Yeah, I think the distribution of jerkishness is nonrandom — formidable people become formidable in part by not suffering fools gladly, I suppose — but I know plenty of polite and even decorous people who are quite brilliant.
— Reihan · Jan 3, 05:23 AM · #
Actually, having your own private jet is much, much, much better than flying First Class in commercial airlines. It’s also insanely expensive (for starters, you have to keep a pilot and a copilot on the payroll all the time).
— Steve Sailer · Jan 3, 09:13 AM · #
Krugman’s a jerk, but he’s put his jerkishness to good use, holding the President of the United States’s feet to the fire for seven years. It’s a public service for somebody that smart and that nasty to obsessively search out reasons to criticize the President, who otherwise has so many PR advantages.
— Steve Sailer · Jan 3, 09:15 AM · #