Fake Alien Invasion To Spur Economy Says Krugmann

[Atheist-Lite]

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/08/1 ... 26995.html



I think, well you know?....the stress and everything.

Paul Krugman: Fake Alien Invasion Would End Economic Slump (VIDEO)

Paul Krugman is so frustrated by the lack of support for another round of stimulus spending that he's now calling for a fake alien invasion of the United States to spur a World War II-style defense buildup.

Krugman was a guest on CNN's "Fareed Zakaria GPS" on Sunday. Speaking with Zakaria and Harvard economist Ken Rogoff, he made the same case he has been making for years--that deficits are not the top economic concern of the day. Krugman noted that the effort of World War II helped end the Great Depression, and joked that something similar was needed today.

"If we discovered that, you know, space aliens were planning to attack and we needed a massive buildup to counter the space alien threat and really inflation and budget deficits took secondary place to that, this slump would be over in 18 months," he said. "And then if we discovered, oops, we made a mistake, there aren't any aliens, we'd be better--"

(continued)

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eYOXAMuR ... re=related[/youtube]

[Cormac]

That would work because despite what economists and bankers (who rely on economist woo the way Reagan relied on fortune tellers), markets are a confidence game. The current crisis, at heart, is one of perception and confidence.

[Gawdzilla Sama]

*hopes to finally read that cook book*

[Atheist-Lite]

The 'comedown' from that kind of mass delusion may have unpredictable consequences. With half the world pumped up and stocked up with laser canons, nuclear grenades etc....

[mistermack]

Krugmann might be right about the last war, but he's talking about the US.
Nobody else did well out of it except the yanks.

If the US could con the rest of the world to fight the aliens for two years, before joining in when the war was turning in our favour, they could possibly do well again.

They could sell us decrepit old weapons at hugely inflated prices, make a fortune, then join in when the aliens had been fought to a standstill.

Yes, that would work.

[Atheist-Lite]

Krugmann might be right about the last war, but he's talking about the US.
Nobody else did well out of it except the yanks.

If the US could con the rest of the world to fight the aliens for two years, before joining in when the war was turning in our favour, they could possibly do well again.

They could sell us decrepit old weapons at hugely inflated prices, make a fortune, then join in when the aliens had been fought to a standstill.

Yes, that would work.

Don't forget operation paperclip 2.0 and transfering the best alien scientists to a secret space research facility?

[Warren Dew]

I think real aliens would be required.

[Atheist-Lite]

I think real aliens would be required.

You could be right. Wouldn't want America to get pumped up for a intersteller war, and then take over the planet themselves instead.

[Atheist-Lite]

http://www.comicsalliance.com/2011/08/1 ... re_twitter

[drl2]

Don't the teabaggers already believe we've been invaded by Obama's secret army of ACORN commandos?

[Gawdzilla Sama]

Don't the teabaggers already believe we've been invaded by Obama's secret army of ACORN commandos?

They believe two things:

No socialized medicine!

Hands off my Medicare!

[Atheist-Lite]

'Idiocracy' was meant as a warning not a blueprint.

[MrJonno]

I think real aliens would be required.

Well there arent any Communists/Muslims/ Chinese planning to take over America but that didnt stop that being sold as justiification for people to make a lot of money

[Rum]

Bizarrely I am reading a science fiction novel at this very moment which does this exact thing (well 'currently' I should say) called 'Yellow, Blue Tibia' by Adam Roberts (http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2009/ja ... rts-review if you want more info).

The premise is that the Soviet Union progressed best when under threat. Stalin is impressed by the impact of WW2 on the nation and is happy that the next war will be with the USA and that the USSR will win..but he is worried about what external threat to rely on after that. So he gets a group of SF writers together to invent an alien threat as a result.

The sting in the tale is that this gradually comes true! Bizarre, but so well written it really works - I recommend it!

[Gawdzilla Sama]

Bizarrely I am reading a science fiction novel at this very moment which does this exact thing (well 'currently' I should say) called 'Yellow, Blue Tibia' by Adam Roberts (http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2009/ja ... rts-review if you want more info).

The premise is that the Soviet Union progressed best when under threat. Stalin is impressed by the impact of WW2 on the nation and is happy that the next war will be with the USA and that the USSR will win..but he is worried about what external threat to rely on after that. So he gets a group of SF writers together to invent an alien threat as a result.

The sting in the tale is that this gradually comes true! Bizarre, but so well written it really works - I recommend it!

"Perpetual crisis" is a tool of the totalitarian. Hitler declared a state of emergency in 1933 and it remained in effect until 1945, IIRC.