Well that’s a damned interesting thing for Paul Krugman to say.

No, not the title:

Keynes Was Right

He probably didn’t even write the title, and anyway, that’s par for the course for Krugman, right? Maybe more direct than usual, but par.

Now here’s the interesting thing, starting with a quote:

“The boom, not the slump, is the right time for austerity at the Treasury.” So declared John Maynard Keynes in 1937…

Yeah, if only. Right? We’re supposed to hope that the government discovers frugality while the economy is booming, and while tax revenues are therefore up?

And then later, Krugman follows up:

…Slashing government spending in a depressed economy depresses the economy further; austerity should wait until a strong recovery is well under way.

Interesting, isn’t it? Paul Krugman, declaring that there is a time when government spending should be cut. There is a time to “dismantle needed programs,” and “weaken the safety net.” *

I wonder what Krugman’s position on government spending was during the Clinton years? Somebody should do some research.

At any rate, we should hang onto this column for the next time the economy is going strong. See what Krugman says then.

One more thing. This is what Krugman wrote between my two ellipses, above:

…even as F.D.R. was about to prove him right by trying to balance the budget too soon, sending the United States economy — which had been steadily recovering up to that point — into a severe recession.

It’s been a now-and-again conservative argument that FDR’s policies worsened and lengthened the Great Depression. I’m no expert, nor do I read everything every liberal economist and Krugman-esque “economist” write, but this is the first instance I’ve seen of a liberal arguing the same.

Via Memeorandum.

* These are generic examples of liberal arguments against spending cuts, not specific quotes from Krugman. Although Krugman may well have used them himself.