Paul Krugman: Trump’s Kakistocracy Is Also a Hackistocracy: "Trump said he planned to nominate Stephen Moore for the Fed’s Board of Governors. Moore is manifestly, flamboyantly unqualified for the position. But there’s a story here that goes deeper than Moore, or even Trump; it’s about the whole GOP’s preference for hucksters over experts, even partisan experts...
...Moore... has been wrong about everything. I don’t mean the occasional bad call, which all of us make. I mean... predicting that George W. Bush’s policies would produce a magnificent boom, Barack Obama’s policies would lead to runaway inflation, tax cuts in Kansas would produce a “near immediate” boost to the state’s economy, and much more. And, of course, never an acknowledgment of error or reflection on why he got it wrong.... Moore isn’t some random guy who caught Trump’s eye. He has long been a prominent figure in the conservative movement: a writer for the Wall Street Journal editorial page, chief economist of the Heritage Foundation, a fixture on the right-wing lecture circuit. Why?
You might say that the G.O.P. values partisan loyalty above professional competence. But... there are plenty of conservative economists with solid professional credentials—and some of them are pretty naked in their partisanship... rushed to endorse the Trump administration’s outlandish claims about the benefits from its tax cut, claims they knew full well were unreasonable. Nor has their partisanship been restrained and polite.... Alan Krueger... increases in the minimum wage don’t usually seem to reduce employment.... James Buchanan denounced those pursuing that line of research as “a bevy of camp-following whores.” So conservatives could... turn... to highly partisan economists with at least some idea of what they’re doing. Yet these economists, despite what often seem like pathetic attempts to curry favor with politicians, are routinely passed over for key positions, which go to almost surreally unqualified figures like Moore or Larry Kudlow...
#noted
