Paul Krugman Should've Gotten a Prize for This, Too

In honor of Paul Krugman winning the Nobel Prize for Economics yesterday, let's post this clip of him arguing with Bill O'Reilly on Tim Russert's MSNBC interview show. I remember watching this on a Saturday afternoon in my Iowa apartment four years ago and howling at O'Reilly's bullying histrionics. (The captions are supplied by Jim Gilliam.)



I love that O'Reilly attempts to explain what a recession is to a man who happens to be a professor of Economics at Princeton University. His supremely clueless arrogance is astounding. From there, O'Reilly tries to intimidate his point across by just yelling louder. But if you're already familiar with Bill-O, you know that's what he does.

Unfortunately, the part where Krugman really gets under O'Reilly's skin by saying "this isn't your show; you can't cut my mic" is mostly cut out. You hear Krugman say that, but don't see O'Reilly's "Hey, that's a cheap shot, pal!" reaction.

If you're curious about the work that got Krugman the Nobel Prize, Justin Fox of TIME magazine blogged about an article he wrote nine years ago that detailed those theories.