March 12, 2003
WHAT'S THE FREQUENCY, HOWELL?:
Mickey Kaus Is Puzzled (Brad DeLong, 3/12/2003)My view is that the op-ed column length is the work of the Devil. It is too long to make one simple important point--so an op-ed column has to at least pretend to take a comprehensive view. But it is too short to really take a comprehensive view of anything....Memo to Howell Raines: Give Paul Krugman 2000 words once a week (or once every week and a half) rather than 700 words twice a week.
I must risk Orrin's wrath for blog-referential posts, because this is too funny. Krugman argues that the economy faces either crushing deflation or devastating inflation. Mickey Kaus wonders why we can't have something inbetween. Brad DeLong explains that not only is Krugman right and stable prices impossible, but a cogent 700-word column is also impossible -- only 200 and 2000 word columns can work. DeLong's two theses are equally plausible.
I must say, however, I do like the Krugman-once-a-week suggestion.
Posted by Paul Jaminet at March 12, 2003 3:26 PMComments
When Will Rogers wrote for the NYT, he expressed more common sense and thought in a few odd sentences than Krugman could in any of his columns.
Posted by: M Ali Choudhury at March 12, 2003 5:12 PMZero times per week seems much more reasonable to me, as I explain here: http://www.seanet.com/~jimxc/Politics/March2003_2.html#jrm773
Posted by: Jim Miller at March 13, 2003 5:16 PMKrugman every day... blogs always need material.
Posted by: Henry Hanks at March 13, 2003 5:58 PM