Paul Krugman - from Noble Prize Winning Economist to Political Hack in many easy steps

This post by Benjamin Zycher at the Economic Policy Journal 0 -  EconomicPolicyJournal.com: Paul Krugman: A Broken Window Equals Economic Stre...:  - illustrates how Paul Krugman is utilizing his stature as a Nobel Prize winning economist to advance some of the luniest economic arguments imaginable to support a "Green" political position. Anyone that has taken economics knows that a fundamemtal characteristic of economic analysis is to not only look at the "visible" consequences of an event or policy but to also look into the "invisible" consequences.

In the story of the broken window, the first order analysis is to see an increase in spending by the owner of the broken window to the glass company for a new window. The window company then has extra revenue that it uses to but supplies for the repair or pay for the installer's wages, who then uses the wage to buy food or clothing, etc and on and on. The first order conclusion is that the broken window has increased spending and investment which then ripples through the economy.

However, this neglects the "invisible" consequences of the broken window. The shop owner now spends money on a new window that he would have spent perhaps on a new suit or a vacation or a downpayment on a new car or dozens of other things which then would have rippled through the economy in a manner similar to the expenditure on the new window. The broken window didn't create new spending or investment but merely reallocated that spending from one area to another.

That someone of the stature of Paul Krugman can make such a ridiculous argument is sad.

That liberal lemmings looking for reasons to support their green agenda believe it is even sadder.