Paul Krugman: save the economy by staging an alien invasion hoax

Cory Doctorow 12:33 pm Wed Aug 17, 2011

Paul Krugman has an unorthodox suggestion for saving the economy: stage a fake alien invasion like the one the superhero Ozymandias pulls in Watchmen:

Think about World War II — that was actually negative social product spending and yet it brought us out… If we discovered that space aliens were planning to attack and we needed a massive build-up to counter the space alien threat, and inflation and budget deficits took secondary place to that, this slump would be over in 18 months. And then if we discovered, "whoops, we made a mistake," we'd [still] be better… There was a Twilight Zone episode like this, in which scientists fake an alien threat in order to achieve world peace. Well, this time we need it to get some fiscal stimulus.

Economist Paul Krugman Endorses 'Watchmen' Alien Invasion Plan for Fiscal Recovery

(Thanks, Laura!)

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