Listeners, today's podcast is taken from a series we're doing on my live radio show. We're calling it

Remote Learning 10 a.m. to noon. And it's a play on the fact that even if remote learning is a new

phrase in our vernacular, it's a pretty good description of the type of live radio shows we've been

making for years 10 a.m. to noon Eastern Time since long before the pandemic. So in this interview,

you'll hear me saying, ooh, ooh, I'm raising my hand, professor, I have a question. That's just

me having a little fun around the idea of remote learning. And with that out of the way,

here's today's episode. I'm Brian Lehrer. This is my Daily Politics Podcast from WNYC Studios. It's Friday, May 21st.

Now we'll do a little remote learning with Dr. Paul Krugman, economics professor and New York

Times columnist and author of the book,

Arguing with Zombies, Economics, Politics, and the Fight for a Better Future.

Today's lesson is derived from Professor Krugman's May 13th, New York Times column,

academically entitled, Krugman Wanks Out, Return of the Money, Cockroaches.

Dr. Krugman, it's always a pleasure.

Welcome back to WNYC. Hi there. Good to be on. So your lesson begins with a distinction that you make

between zombie ideas and politics and economics and cockroach ideas. Would you make that

distinction for us here? Yeah. I mean, this is a zombie is a term I stole from

other people. Cockroaches I learned from long ago from a government official who said that bad

ideas in government and policy are like cockroaches. You can, you know, flushing down the

toilet, you can get rid of them for a little while, but they always come back. And so a zombie idea is something like, you know, flush and down the toilet, you can get rid of them for a little while, but they always come back.

And so a zombie idea is something like, you know, taxing, cutting taxes on the rich does wonderful things. That's perennial. It's always out there. It's always out there eating people's brains. Zombie ideas are things like the Fed is printing money. that means hyperinflation is around the corner,

which we managed to get rid of for a few years,

and then it just keeps on coming back. it's like the Fed is printing money, that means hyperinflation is around the corner,

...