May 26, 2004
#158: Job-o-Meter
KRUGMAN TRUTH SQUAD
You've all heard of the one-trick pony of circus fame. Well Paul Krugman in Delusions of Triumph (05/25/04) has now become a one-trick economist. Once again it’s jobs, jobs, jobs. The reason is simple. Every other measure of U.S. economic performance is stellar. So if you want to grind a partisan ax you find the weakest statistic and pretend it reflects the entire economy. This must be the 5th or 6th recycling of the same "jobs" column.
But even here, Krugman is running out of gas. We are setting up a “Krugman Job-o-Meter” based on the chart he used in his April 9, 2004 column (see Squad Report #149). The hatched extension in the chart below shows the pattern of job creation since that column was written. We will update it monthly (the next report is June 4th). Krugman will certainly never show this chart again!
Dum-de-dum-dum.
[The Truth Squad is a group of economists who have long marveled at the writings of Paul Krugman. The Squad Reports are synopses of their discussions. ]
Posted by John Weidner at May 26, 2004 09:14 PM | TrackBackFrom the Bureau of Labor Statistics:
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"Total Employment and the Labor Force (Household Survey Data) Total employment was 138.6 million in April..."
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Am I wrong, or does this validate even the most optimistic Bush Administration forecast from 2002?
See, we aren't supposed to talk about the Household Survey because it shows several million more jobs gained during the Bush years. Better to only talk about the Payroll Survey and pretend it's the only metric available re: job growth.
Posted by: Lance Jonn Romanoff at May 28, 2004 08:31 AM
