Paul Krugman: Triumph of the Wrong?

Republicans believe that austerity promotes recovery, but when other countries have tried this the results have been disastrous:

Triumph of the Wrong?, by Paul Krugman, Commentary, NY Times: In these closing weeks of the campaign, each side wants you to believe that it
has the right ideas to fix a still-ailing economy. So here’s what you need to
know: If you look at the track record, the Obama administration has been wrong
about some things, mainly because it was too optimistic about the prospects for
a quick recovery. But Republicans have been wrong about everything.

About that misplaced optimism: In a now-notorious January 2009 forecast,
economists working for the incoming administration predicted that by now
most of the effects of the 2008 financial crisis would be behind us… It
wasn’t exaggerated faith in the … stimulus plan; the report predicted a
fairly rapid recovery even without stimulus. Instead, President Obama’s
people failed to appreciate something that is now common wisdom among
economic analysts: severe financial crises inflict sustained economic
damage, and it takes a long time to recover.

This same observation, of course, offers a partial excuse for the
economy’s lingering weakness. And the question we should ask given this
unpleasant reality is what policies would offer the best prospects for
healing the damage. Mr. Obama’s camp argues for … the American Jobs Act.
Republicans, on the other hand, insist that the path to prosperity involves
sharp cuts in government spending.

And Republicans are dead wrong.

The latest devastating demonstration of that wrongness
comes
from the International Monetary Fund… What the monetary fund shows is
that … spending cuts appear to have done even more harm than most analysts
— including those at the I.M.F. itself — expected.

Which brings us to the question of what form economic policies will take
after the election.

If Mr. Obama wins, he’ll presumably go back to pushing for modest
stimulus, aiming to convert the gradual recovery … into a more rapid
return to full employment.

Republicans, however, are committed to an economic doctrine that has
proved false, indeed disastrous, in other countries. Nor are they likely to
change their views in the light of experience. After all,… the … party
remains opposed to effective financial regulation despite the catastrophe of
2008; it remains obsessed with the dangers of inflation despite years of
false alarms. …

And here’s the thing: if Mitt Romney wins the election, the G.O.P. will
surely consider its economic ideas vindicated. In other words, politically
good things may be about to happen to very bad ideas. And if that’s how it
plays out, the American people will pay the price.