There is a new Political Correctness going about, and that is the claim that anyone whose income is above a certain level (say the upper one percent) only can be evaluated as a parasite, and Paul Krugman is one of the forces behind it. You see, the wealthy -- which include Krugman, since his annual income is in the millions of dollars -- have value ONLY in the amount of money that government takes from them via taxation.
When one views the world in Keynesian terms, then government is the only force that can create demand, since all good Keynesians know that Say's Law is wrong and that the source of consumption is not production, but rather printed money. True, inflation did not work well for Zimbabwe, but it will work for us because Krugman says it will.
Let us take Steven Jobs, for example. Some will mistakenly (according to the Holy Doctrines of the Church of Krugman) claim that by anticipating what consumers would want and then directing the production of goods that consumers readily purchased, Jobs ultimately made our economy wealthier. The profits he made were garnered because his entrepreneurial decision-making was correct.
Obviously, such a viewpoint no longer is Politically Correct. Jobs made more money than anyone else at Apple, so that makes him a parasite. His only value to society lay in the amount of taxes he paid, and the government should have taken more.
An economy, in Keynesians-Speak, is only about aggregates, and whenever government inflates the currency or takes huge chunks of income from the rich, it is "creating demand," and creation of demand ultimately creates jobs, and jobs are the source of wealth. (Note that I have not said "productive services" help create wealth; no, the only value that a job has is the income one earns and then spends.)
As I have said before, Krugman needs to begin with himself. If he were to give all of his income to the government, then there would be more income equality and more aggregate demand. A long journey, we know, begins with a single step.
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Thinking out loud here, I wonder whether this idea that rich people are parasites is a misplaced expression of the resent and fear of rich people's corruption of our governemt(s)
The more I read about Keynesianism, the more it sounds like a complete rejection of everything accomplished in economics since the 18th century.
Where does Krugman say the rich are parasites? He was complaining about the new demand that the we can't say "the rich", we have to say "job-creators".
Another "holier than thou" big government socialist who thinks that only other people should pay taxes. Oh, she's based in the U.S., so subject to U.S. taxes.
IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde, Scourge of Greek Tax Evaders, Pays No Tax Herself
Christine Lagarde, the IMF boss who caused international outrage after she suggested... that beleaguered Greeks might do well to pay their taxes, pays no taxes, it has emerged. As an official of an international institution, her salary of $467,940 a year plus $83,760 additional allowance....
*IMF officials pay taxes just like everyone else. But the IMF grosses up their salaries to compensate them for the taxes they pay. Ask Tim Geithner, who got in trouble for not paying taxes on his IMF income.*
@ macroman
Can people not read between the lines anymore?
Where does Krugman say the rich are parasites?
Every time he calls for higher taxes on the rich so the gov't can spend it wisely to boost aggregate demand.
Keynesians only see the value in one's consumption spending and if you don't spend enough of your income you are merely leaching off the work of your employees - a parasite if you will.
You see in a Keynesian utopia, if Steve jobs only made say 10% more than the laborers who build iPods he could afford to pay his employees more and those employees would turn around and spend most of their wages on consumption goods.
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This is getting ridiculous. Krugnuts is an insult to Keynes. I don't agree with Keynes, and I doubt, very much, that Keynes would agree with Krugabee.
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