Economics Trivia

Kevin Drum has this one right, All That’s Left Are Fights Over Trivia.

What does this say about us?  As near as I can tell, this is the most important domestic political battle in the country right now. That’s right: reauthorizing the Export-Import Bank. Can you think of anything more trivial? This is a government agency that costs taxpayers nothing—in fact, it’s recorded a profit over the past decade—and, at worst, will cost us no more than a tiny amount in the future. On the flip side, although reliable figures are hard to come by, its impact on our export business is probably pretty minuscule.

I was actually going to blog about this last week because it was a rare occasion where Paul Krugman and Paul Samuelson agree.

But I thought it was too trivial…