Do we really need any more evidence?

While I appreciate and agree with Paul Krugman's conclusion that the U.S. auto industry bailout is a short-term effort to avoid facing the more fundamental weaknesses in the American car industry, and, more importantly, to help those responsible for these companies to face that weakness...

Do we really need any more evidence that this guy is just as likely to be a dumbshit like the rest of us, than this conclusion:

Krugman: U.S. Auto Industry Will Probably Disappear

Yes, he really said this. Read the article. I couldn't believe it either.

Paul is not a bad guy. He's a smart guy. He is also politically unhinged, as of late (say over the last 5 years; I bet you can deduce when it started).

And his ideological blinders show in this foolish, foolish notion that somehow America is going to stop producing cars.

You mean like how they stopped producing computers when the Japanese got a jump on that industry? Or how Americans stopped producing electronics as Taiwan got good at that?

Paul, the U.S. auto industry will not be as dominant in the next generation. You and I agree on that point. Too many stronger competitors, especially from Japan (I am biased, since I own a Toyota). But the U.S. auto industry will still be around. GM and Ford are not going anywhere (Chrysler might be another story, but I still think it is likely that someone will pick up that Chrysler brand name and run with it, even if their cars are kind of shit. Did I just say that out loud? I'm actually joking. I don't know dick about cars, is the truth. But I do have some understanding of business. And I have a feeling that someone will want to keep making money off of Chrysler's name, even if they lose market share).

People are not going to stop buying Fords and Chevies just because Toyotas are often better. They will just buy fewer of them.

And, in the meantime, that generalization does not at all hold for individual car models and car purchases, all of which are made on an incalcuable multitude of many different individual reasons and calculations.

Paul Krugman's not a bad guy. He's a smart guy. He's also full of shit. Often. And this little zinger, which derives from the field of analysis that won Krugman the Nobel Prize, international trade patterns and economic geography, remember, should illustrate that fact really well.

Don't worry, Paul. I mean that, bud. We all fuck up. I still like you. You're still a smart guy. You got plenty of good things to say, that's for sure. You just needed a little humbling.

It looks like you might be finding some. That's what it looks like to get honest, Paul.

If that's the case, proud on ya.