Paul Krugman is apparently so entranced by the magic that he believes that forcing firms to replace capital, even if it makes them poorer, “can stimulate spending and raise employment” and “the broken windows fallacy ceases to be a fallacy.” In this alternate universe, hurricanes Katrina and Sandy could do more for U.S. economic growth than the development of the petroleum industry, the refinement of the internal combustion engine, the development of the electric power industry, or the development and use of the semiconductor transistor.

Professor Cochrane writes that macroeconomists looking at new ways to explain the slow growth disaster are considering the uncertainty introduced by arbitrary policy changes, large distorting taxes, intrusive regulations, and the “unintended disincentives of social programs.”If these new approaches are correct, and one’s goal is to inflict maximum economic damage on Americans, ObamaCare is a smashing success. It affects the whole population, generates huge uncertainty…