Thus the title of Paul Krugman’s latest book, published earlier this year.[1] I am attracted at once as I come upon it in a bookstore. The politicians of the Great Depression era had no idea what was going on, he argues. They had no idea what to do about it, either. It is different now. After John Maynard Keynes, we know what is going on, as well as what to do about it. Call a spade a spade, and get going! The Nobel laureate is right up my alley, I feel. Seeing my enthusiasm as I fondle the book, my beloved offers to buy it for me as a birthday present of sorts, but I refuse without much thinking. There were a few politicians worth talking to in Keynes’ time, but there are none nowadays. Zilch. Krugman is wasting his time, and so would I by going through his book in my leisure. Indeed, it is high time for me to abandon economics for good. A desperate science, to be sure.

Footnote

1. New York: W.W. Norton, 2012.