Security And Opportunity

Paul Krugman tells us that, on the economic front, "America Wants Security".

Will Wilkinson wonders what that means.

For myself, I love the idea of "security", but I desperately do not want the US to inflict "eurosclerosis" upon itself.

As an aside, I wonder about this:

At the state level, many, though by no means all, politicians are responding to those concerns. The push to raise the minimum wage is a useful political barometer: seven states have raised the minimum in just the last two years.

Fine, as a political barometer that may well be true.  But, seeeing as how Krugman made his reputation as an economist, might we look to him for a comment on the wisdom of raising the minimum wage?  One might have thought that it tied in nicely to his thoughts on on outsourcing, for instance.  Or he might even connect it to his thoughts on "economic security" - does raising the minimum wage really addresss that, or is it a widely misunderstood "feel-good" gimmick that, in the long run, probably does not help and may hurt the working poor?

Years ago, he did not back the "living wage", but times change, and now Republicans oppose minimum wage increases, so his current view may be harder to predict.

Comments

[Brainster]

Did you see Daniel Okrent's parting shot?

"Op-Ed columnist Paul Krugman has the disturbing habit of shaping, slicing and selectively citing numbers in a fashion that pleases his acolytes but leaves him open to substantive assaults."

[Jim Glass]

PK:

"Everyone loves historical analogies. Here's my thought: maybe 2004 was 1928 ... Of course, the coming of the New Deal was hastened by a severe national depression. Strange to say, we may be working on that, too."

Another one for the clip file. Let's remember to look back in 2006/1930 to see how the Depression is progressing.

It seems a rather odd thing for one to muse and fancy about, but if we're down to it being the only way one can imagine of getting Democrats back in power again...

BTW, I'm waiting for Krugman the trade economist's column on the Democrats' opposition to CAFTA.

[Neo]

I have to say that using the "push to raise the minimum wage is a useful political barometer" is quite useful, but for the wrong reasons.
When a political party, usually the Democrats, wheel out the minimum wage, it is most often because they have run out of other legislative ideas. At the end of legislative session, reading the tea leaves based on this barometer can be most murky, but when it is invoked early in the legislative cycle, this becomes a true barometer of dearth, indicating the true lack or dearth of novel legislative ideas.