There is a fascinating short video up on the BBC website featuring a discussion between Professor Paul Krugman and two British conservatives regarding the policies of economic austerity (cutting government spending in the face of economic recession) taken by the British and the European Union.

One absolutely endearing feature of this discussion is that the exponents of each side do not yell over each other like so-called “talk” shows here.  In traditional fashion, each participant waits to be called and the moderator does not talk over any of the guests.

But what is really amazing is the Krugman “Aha!” moment about half way through, where he identifies the trajectory of the conservatives’ argument.  To paraphrase, the conservatives want to end up at the desired goal of requiring a reduction in the size of government, and then formulate an argument exploiting the present situation to get there – the Shock Doctrine, by another name.

We should be aware of this mode of argumentation (“the economy is weak, cut taxes!”; “the economy is good, cut taxes!”), because it is often wielded by conservatives here in the United States.