William L. Anderson on Paul Krugman's love affair with the Clinton administration

If all we read on economics were [Paul] Krugman's columns, we would learn that Bill Clinton gave us prosperity because his administration pushed a tax increase through Congress in 1993. That tax increase, says Krugman, enabled us to "balance" the federal budget, which magically created a good economy. (That the federal budget actually was never "balanced" in conventional accounting terms, and that the alleged balanced budgets occurred late in Clinton's term during the Fed-created unsustainable boom, and not when taxes were increased seems to be off Krugman's radar screen.)

Furthermore, his columns claim that Clinton's government was the model of "fiscal responsibility," and is always full of praise for the former president's policies. My guess is that if the Clinton Administration were in power now and following basically the same budgetary and legal priorities as the Bush Administration is currently doing, he would be writing excuses for Clinton.

~ William L. Anderson, "Krugman the Keynesian," Mises.org, September 11, 2003