It's Always a Mistake

This is Brad DeLong's fault. In reference to a Larry Kudlow article he said:

It is always a mistake to surf over to National Review. Always.

So, of course I had to go see what Larry Kudlow said to generate Brad's comment.

While I was at the site, I made the mistake of clicking on "Phillips Heads Screw Drivers" by Jerry Bowyer. I knew better than to do that -- he routinely gets his economics wrong and this time was no different. I can't figure out why NRO Financial continues to print things from him except for the fact that he's willing to carry water for the cause no matter how dumb he looks.

He gives one of the worst descriptions of the Phillips curve I've seen anywhere, it's not even close, he mixes up simple things like income and wealth, and the part about a deflationary recession shows considerable ignorance of Bernanke's scholarly work. He probably shouldn't be calling Phillips an "awful economist," as he does, when he's not an economist himself (and an exceedingly awful non-economist at that). He complains that the Fed is "going to starve the banks of cash because some long-dead central planner named A.W. Phillips said that growth is bad for prices." That's not what Phillips said, but the funny part is his solution to the lack of liquidity - raise rates!

He says he can't figure out "why the fed funds rate hasn’t already been lifted — like the stock, bond, and commodities markets have been telling the Fed to do." Unless in his mind, to lift means to lower (and that's not how the term is used), that's just dumb.

It is always a mistake to surf over to National Review. Always.

Update: Brad DeLong makes clear that Jerry Bowyer, though becoming competitive, still hasn't caught the master, Donald Luskin. But Brendan Nyhan documents a few of the reasons why Brad may want to keep his eyes on the up and coming Bowyer.

Comments

[robertdfeinman]

I'm starting to repeat myself, but...

Jerry Bowyer "founded" the Allegheny Institute for Public Policy - yet another Scaife front group.

Here's the Wikipedia entry:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jerry_Bowyer

The institute was launched by Richard Mellon Scaife and has been funded in large part by the various Scaife foundations; of the $3.8 million in grants to the Institute between 1995 and 2005, more than $3.5 million came from four of those foundations.

You can't have a discussion over policy, philosophy or even science if those who you are trying to address are the paid shills of the plutocrats.

At least in Germany people knew who Krupp was, the influential industrialists in the US are much better at keeping their actions out of the public eye, so their influence tends to go unnoticed. This isn't a good thing if democracy is going to function properly.

[calmo]

Tis a pesky problem: registering a complaint that the serious commentary was/is frivolous entertainment.
People (ok, not Mark nor rdf nor many of us) get momentarily stumped and wonder if the complaint is part of the skit.
BDL (and pgl at AB times 100) entertains us by the mere action of referring to entertainer Larry as a bad economist.
Tisn't funny.
The (not serious enough) argument is that without refutations, the performance gains credibility.
But only with those who are giving their eyes a rest from watching the Daytona 500...not your devoted informed recreational economists who recognize Larry as a clown.

[RIchard Baldwin]

At VoxEU.org, we talk about professional economists, i.e. people who make a living studying and writing about the economy. This includes some journalists, especially those at the FT or Economists -- many of whom don't have PhDs or even MAs.
But as always, there are exceptions. Some of the wacko columnists make a living talking about the economy but they are listened too in the same way creationists are always mentioned in stories on evolution. Thus, one has to -- as Mark T did -- be willing to call nonsense by its name.

[calmo]

RIchard writes...and we read (with some emphasis and appendages) [like this]:
Some of the wacko columnists make a living talking about the economy but they are listened to (are you listening to this?) in the same way (...or just hearing something?) creationists are always mentioned in stories on evolution.
and I am reminded of an exchange with a friend in marital trouble who reported that his mother took him aside and informed him in magisterial, guiding tones: "Steve, women talk."
I was so stunned by this, I blurted out "Yeah, but do they say anything?"
I may not be a great guide, but I can pass as a friend.

[notsneaky]

Ay, now you made me click on it too. Anyway, what happened to the days when conservatives championed price stability and inflation hawkishness? (Not saying that that is the appropriate policy response right now)