HEH: Dr. Krugman: This Patient Needs More Bloodletting. “For now, I’ll just point out that Krugman’s case for additional stimulus uses the same logic as Caliph Omar’s decision about the good and bad books in Alexandria. If we don’t stimulate and the economy tanks, it’s because we’re not stimulating; if we stimulate and the economy tanks, it’s because we’re not stimulating enough. There’s no way to refute premises stacked in this way. . . . I don’t think he means to make a despotic argument. But that’s what it is. “