Paul Krugman

Paul Krugman @paulkrugman

RT @johnauthers: Paul Krugman has some pointed things to say about bitcoin that should generate some interesting responses from the faithfu… — PolitiTweet.org

Paul Krugman @paulkrugman

Prediction: this will get a lot of hate mail. The cult must not be mocked https://t.co/IK03DXgLKD — PolitiTweet.org

Paul Krugman @paulkrugman

But bank deposits are counted in M2, so if you have a crude view that thinks everything in M2 is like freshly minted Venezuelan bolivars, you start shrieking about inflation. Sorry, that's not what happened 6/ — PolitiTweet.org

Paul Krugman @paulkrugman

This might sound pointless, but there were some major risk perceptions — the whole system almost froze up in March 2020 — which the Fed controlled by stepping in as intermediary. And it's not a problem! In particular, no, the Fed wasn't inflating away private wealth 5/ — PolitiTweet.org

Paul Krugman @paulkrugman

And the Fed bought around $2 trillion in USG debt, which paid for the aid packages that made it possible for households to put all that money in banks 4/ https://t.co/a84RXtM3M9 — PolitiTweet.org

Paul Krugman @paulkrugman

The details are complicated as always, but roughly speaking, what has happened since the start of the pandemic is that nervous households parked around $2 trillion in banks; cautious banks parked that money at the Fed; ... 3/ — PolitiTweet.org

Paul Krugman @paulkrugman

A more accurate read would be to say that the banking system, including the Fed, has been acting as an intermediary for people looking for safety in uncertain times. This shows up as a rise in monetary aggregates, but it's not "printing money" 2/ — PolitiTweet.org

Paul Krugman @paulkrugman

Talking with financial industry people, I'm getting a lot of angst about the surge in the money supply — and I thought it might be helpful to talk about what's really happening. No, the Fed isn't wildly printing dollars to pay the government's bills 1/ — PolitiTweet.org

Paul Krugman @paulkrugman

Something not rotten in the state of Denmark. But remember, it's a socialist hellhole https://t.co/S3hqTyygUp — PolitiTweet.org

Paul Krugman @paulkrugman

But I've given up predicting imminent demise. There always seem to be a new crop of believers. Maybe just think of it as a cult that can survive indefinitely 4/ — PolitiTweet.org

Paul Krugman @paulkrugman

Its value rests on the perception that it's a technologically sophisticated way to protect yourself from the inevitable collapse of fiat money, which is coming one of these days, or maybe one of these centuries. Or, as I say, libertarian derp plus technobabble 3/ — PolitiTweet.org

Paul Krugman @paulkrugman

BTC isn't a new innovation; it's been around since 2009, and in all that time nobody seems to have found any good legal use for it. It's not a convenient medium of exchange; it's not a stable store of value; it's definitely not a unit of account 2/ — PolitiTweet.org

Paul Krugman @paulkrugman

I don't write much about Bitcoin because there aren't any fundamentals to discuss. 1/ — PolitiTweet.org

Paul Krugman @paulkrugman

Q: Where is BTC's price now relative to fundamental value? A: What fundamental value? https://t.co/fHCuqqSxiS — PolitiTweet.org

Paul Krugman @paulkrugman

PS: I know a few words of German, but this was cut-and-pasted from Gutenberg — PolitiTweet.org

Paul Krugman @paulkrugman

Als Gregor Samsa eines Morgens aus unruhigen Träumen erwachte, fand er sich in seinem Bett zu einem monetary Cockroach verwandelt. https://t.co/ZlRfPBgWDk — PolitiTweet.org

Paul Krugman @paulkrugman

Oh, my. I write about the "cockroach" idea that big money supply numbers presage runaway inflation, and the very next day ... https://t.co/3VRurHJLbp https://t.co/4CY3mybkZI — PolitiTweet.org

Paul Krugman @paulkrugman

Remembering when one of Trump's economists left office https://t.co/XHc6nmSqgm https://t.co/W2jmGX7U5i — PolitiTweet.org

Paul Krugman @paulkrugman

Seeing many people remarking on how the Trump cult of personality has taken over his party, and it is indeed grotesque. But the GOP was heading down this path long before Trump https://t.co/dhHs21cu0D — PolitiTweet.org

Paul Krugman @paulkrugman

He also gets annoyed at people who use jargon, especially obscure acronyms. YMMV, but I'm ROTFLMAO 2/ — PolitiTweet.org

Paul Krugman @paulkrugman

Biden likes to make decisions after listening to experts make their case, instead of reacting to something he liked on Fox News. The horror, the horror! 1/ https://t.co/OkRYow4MvT — PolitiTweet.org

Paul Krugman @paulkrugman

Macro is full of stuff like that. Are rates determined by supply and demand for loanable funds, or by liquidity preference? Again, yes. It's a system, and the pieces fit together. It's not really that hard, but it does require a certain mindset not everyone has ... 6/ — PolitiTweet.org

Paul Krugman @paulkrugman

Suppose, for example, that the world decided it wanted more US bonds. Interest rates would presumably go down. But wouldn't that lead to overheating? No, it would strengthen the dollar, swelling the trade deficit, and hence reducing the demand for US goods and services 5/ — PolitiTweet.org

Paul Krugman @paulkrugman

Interest rates must be consistent with a sustainable macro environment. But they must also match supply and demand for bonds. These sound like contradictory concerns, but they're really just different aspects of the same thing 4/ — PolitiTweet.org

Paul Krugman @paulkrugman

Is it macroeconomics — the "neutral" rate needed to maintain full employment without overheating? Or is it supply and demand in the bond market? The answer is ... yes 3/ — PolitiTweet.org

Paul Krugman @paulkrugman

Many people are arguing that rates will go up bc the Fed needs to head off inflationary overheating. This piece argues that demand from investors getting very low yields elsewhere will keep rates down. So what determines rates? 2/ — PolitiTweet.org

Paul Krugman @paulkrugman

This article arguing that US interest rates will stay low caught my eye, because it's a nice illustration — though far from the worst example — of why doing macroeconomics can be hard 1/ https://t.co/u7Cr4Ijt94 — PolitiTweet.org

Paul Krugman @paulkrugman

So, after all the doomsaying about that inflation report, the 10-year is up by ... 2 basis points? https://t.co/hhPaeCl0tu — PolitiTweet.org

Paul Krugman @paulkrugman

FTAlphaville's art for its link to my wonking piece was a bit more ... graphic than The Times https://t.co/3VRurHJLbp https://t.co/yZ2DVBODYh — PolitiTweet.org

Paul Krugman @paulkrugman

When an inflation report tells you nothing you didn't already know https://t.co/eXkaGVs9Rj — PolitiTweet.org