First they ignore you, said Mahatma Gandhi. Then they laugh at you. Then they fight you. Then you win. On the basis of the vitriol that David Stockman's new book has stirred up, he is close to winning - the debate, if nothing else. Someone called Jared Bernstein described Mr. Stockman's book as "a horrific screed, an ahistorical, dystopic, Hunger Games vision of America based on debt obsession and wilful ignorance of macro-economics and the impact of market failure". Sounds like America to us. Someone else called David Frum labelled it "primitive" as economics, "silly" as advice and suggested that Mr. Stockman might be suffering from elderly depression. "As an insight into the gloomy mindset that overtakes us in middle age, it's a valuable warning to those still middle-aged that once we lose our faith in the future, it's time to stop talking about politics in public." Perhaps. Or perhaps Mr. Stockman's new book is an accurate portrayal of a dysfunctional kleptocracy beset by venal politicians and inept and greedy financiers in which "politics" is reduced to an endless clown parade of the economically illiterate attempting to perpetuate an illusory boom fuelled only by ever more desperate spasms of unsustainable credit. Thanks to Amazon, we will soon know one way or the other.

David Fuller's view I trust that Mr Stockman is enjoying the vitriol. I commented on his article last Wednesday, and here is a brief sample (subscription login required to see the full section):

"However, what interested me most were the readers' comments following the article. I certainly have not read them all, but I skimmed a number and there was a tendency to dismiss Stockman as an angry and sadly out of touch crank. Subscribers can decide whether or not they agree with the critics, or read their responses as evidence of anxiety, because Mr Stockman had the courage to state what others may fear."