I joined you in flagging it (and flagged the Krugman one for good measure :-). It's virtually impossible for any article about economics to not devolve into political squabbling on internet forums. Just look at the ratio of people with degrees in economics vs people who are, as philwelch describes them, "self-trained Austrian economists who post on comment threads". And if you start posting Krugman articles, it's like waving a red flag in front of a bull for our "Austrian" (and others of their ilk) HN brethren - they're going to want to post their stuff too.

I think economics is fascinating, but ultimately it serves, and is very closely related to what a society's goals and values are, which is politics.