Brooks smacks down Krugman.

At least, that's how I read today's column:

"The economic approach embraced by the most prominent liberals over the past few years is mostly mechanical. The economy is treated like a big machine; the people in it like rational, utility maximizing cogs. The performance of the economic machine can be predicted with quantitative macroeconomic models."
...
"The liberal technicians have an impressive certainty about them. They have amputated those things that can’t be contained in models, like emotional contagions, cultural particularities and webs of relationships. As a result, everything is explainable and predictable. They can stand on the platform of science and dismiss the poor souls down below."

Yet over the past 21 months, it has been harder to groove to their certainty. To start with, the economy has not responded as the modelers projected, either in the months after the stimulus was passed or this summer, when it was supposed to be producing hundreds of thousands of jobs. ... Moreover, it has been harder to accept that psychological factors like uncertainty and anxiety really are a mirage."


Speaking of,
I've decided to take a little break myself from reading Mr. Dr. Krugman's columns and postings at the NYT.
(I know, I know: I'll be missed ... not.)

On Sunday you see,
on a TV show roundtable where 4 seasoned pundits are selected to comment on issues of the day, Mr. Dr. Krugman -- again, to me, perhaps others too -- proved a coward.

I get that he touts his economic superiority, that's what he's there for. But often the roundtable addresses several timely topics, and the idea is all 4 pundits -- often Krugman and George Will, for balance -- offer up their opinions. Opinions -- we get that too. Not facts, just what you believe, at the time you're saying it...

So Mr. Dr. Krugman, when the question came to him about the wisdom of the DADT discrimination against potential service members unwilling to lie about who they are at their core -- couldn't offer up an opinion.

No neutral:
"Well, as an economist, employment discrimination rarely betters the workforce as a whole..."

No standing up, as a longtime liberal who surely has an opinion on these matters, for what is right. "Stand up for what is right, even if you're standing alone."

Nope, Mr. Dr. Krugman had nothing at all to offer up on the topic, not even when asked directly by the host.

Not worth watching, not worth reading. Good German though, that Krugman is. Keeping quiet lest he dare offend, or comment on something which does not affect him directly. Never Forget.