Donald Luskin is the Chief Investment Officer for Trend Macrolytics LLC, an investment consulting firm. He also writes a blog, The Conspiracy to Keep You Poor and Stupid , which is also the title of his forthcoming book. As his blog says, his endeavor is to explain how "Big government, big business, big media and big academia block your road to financial freedom -- and tell you it's for your own good." He has written two other books, Index Options and Futures: The Complete Guide and Portfolio Insurance: A Guide to Dynamic Hedging. His self-written biography states, "Attended Yale in 1973-1974; dropped out to rejoin the real world as soon as possible." Luskin also writes a column for National Review Online, discussing financial, economic and political matters.
Much of the blog is spent detailing and explaining how economic facts, figures, and trends are distorted by politicians, pundits, and the media. He has a particular animosity towards the New York Times, especially columnist Paul Krugman, and public editor Daniel Okrent. Luskin is the de facto leader of the "Krugman Truth Squad", a group of National Review Online writers dedicated to detailing and rebutting what they consider the lies and distortions of Krugman.
In 2003, Krugman accused Luskin of personally stalking him. Luskin defended himself against the charge here. The issue about whether Krugman had been stalked by Luskin became controversial: The New Yorker published interviews with both men on the issue.
Critics, especially Berkeley economics professor Brad DeLong, argue that Luskin knows very little about economics and makes frequent errors. Many of Luskin's supporters counter that academic economists have lost sight of the real world and/or are blinded by punditry. Angry Bear is a left-wing blog by anonymous "economists" often critical of Luskin (and supply-siders like Larry Kudlow). DeLong publishes an "Intellectual Garbage Pickup" every quarter with errors he claims to have found in Luskin's work, and recently he has called Luskin "The Stupidest Man Alive." [1] Some claim that Luskin's response was to put a quote from DeLong on his blog's homepage; actually, that quote had been there since January 2004. It comes from an interview with Delong, who named Luskin when asked who his "worst blogging experience" is.[2] DeLong's deep resentment also stems from when Luskin alerted the University of California Regents to many intellectual property violations on DeLong's website.
Quotes
- "Join us as we discover, document, expose and challenge the bad people, the bad institutions and the bad ideas that stand in the way of wealth creation -- and show you how to fight back!" -- description of his weblog
- "Fig-leaf Dan -- available in one handy stretch-to-fit size." -- An insult to Daniel Okrent, public editor of the New York Times. Luskin believes Okrent does a poor job of hiding a liberal bias present in the New York Times.
- "The emperor has no clothes, and I intend to keep calling him naked." -- On the merits of insulting Paul Krugman.
External links
Last updated: 10-29-2005 02:13:46
