Paul Krugman Was Smart in September 2002
Paul Krugman wrote, five years ago:
Stocks and Bombs: Larry Kudlow published a column in The Washington Times with the headline "Taking Back the Market — by Force." In it he argued for an invasion of Iraq to boost the Dow. Pretty amazing stuff, though not as amazing as a July column in The New York Post by John Podhoretz, whose headline read "October Surprise, Please," followed by the injunction "Go On, Mr. President: Wag the Dog." In general it's a bad omen when advocates of a policy claim that it will solve problems unrelated to its original purpose. The shifting rationale for the Bush tax cut — it's about giving back the surplus; no, it's a demand stimulus; no, it's a supply-side policy — should have warned us that this was an obsession in search of a justification.
The shifting rationale for war with Iraq — Saddam Hussein was behind Sept. 11 and the anthrax attacks; no, but he's on the verge of developing nuclear weapons; no, but he's a really evil man (which he is) — has a similar feel. The idea that war would actually be good for the economy seems like just one more step in this progression...
