Krugman should take his own words to heart when it comes to economics.
But if you watched the debate on Friday, you didn’t see
people who’ve thought hard about a crucial issue, and are
trying to do the right thing. What you saw, instead, were
people who show no sign of being interested in the truth.
They don’t like the political and policy implications of
climate change, so they’ve decided not to believe in it —
and they’ll grab any argument, no matter how disreputable,
that feeds their denial.
This exactly describes the way he treats any free-market argument.
Has the free-market taken us to multiple wars over the past 20-years with countries that have large oil reserves so oil can keep flowing in our direction? Has the free-market kept interest rates far below reality, allowing us to go on a massive consumption binge?
Does the free-market regulate agriculture, discouraging small farms in favor of massive CAFOs? Does the free-market subsidize huge agri-business to produce more corn than we can possibly use?
It's these unchanging economic and foreign policies that encourage waste, consumption, and addiction to fossil fuels, which, in turn, have a negative effect on our planet.
