As anyone who’s ever owned a car probably knows, money serves the same function for the economy as oil does for the engine of your car. We all know what happens when you let the car run out of oil (there’s a very good reason why they call that dashboard warning signal an “idiot light”). You know you can add a tiny bit of oil and get the engine working again, but you’re a damned fool if you don’t put in the full amount ASAP.
Those of us who know basic car maintenance can be, yes, a little bit annoyed with people who don’t understand how to take care of their own vehicle.
And that’s what Paul Krugman’s been talking about for four years now. The Bush administration, followed by the Obama administration, didn’t use enough stimulus oil and the engine of the economy has slowed to a crawl. (Hey pal, don’t you see that flashing IDIOT LIGHT?)
When you have a problem with your engine, the solution isn’t to drain the rest of the oil.
For those four years, I’ve watched Krugman try to explain things reasonably, trying not to offend people. He had the liberal’s fatal flaw: “This is just a matter of giving people the right information and obviously, then they’ll want to do the right thing.” I’d sit and watch, thinking, “When is he going to realize they’re trying to destroy the government and he has to stop giving them the benefit of the doubt?”
Seems like he’s finally reached that point. Good!
Love what you did with the auto maintenance metaphor. Krugzilla should get a kick out of that. Keynes would have loved it.
He has come a long way toward abandoning the “liberal fatal flaw” but still has a way to go. Clearly his basic faith in the tendency toward decency and rationality has been shaken, not least by the incredible political sycophancy of professional colleagues whom he knows damn well know better that the putrid pandering pap they are spewing.
But he still has faith in the system and, when push comes to shove, is on the Obama team. That may be because he’s so focused on the economics and doesn’t also see the human rights, civil liberties, and raw corporatism in full relief. Or maybe he’s hanging on to “the other guys are so much worse.” Like most of the rest of the “progressive” blogosphere.
I don’t think it’s good metaphor — when the engine is broken, one actually has to drain all of the oil, clean it up, find the problem and fix it. Flooding broken engine with oil only makes matters worse — it not only leaves it broken, it also wastes perfectly good oil as well.