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Jon Stewart fires back at Paul Krugman over trillion dollar coin segment [VIDEO]

"Daily Show" host Jon Stewart fired back at economist Paul Krugman for calling him "lazy" on a trillion dollar coin segment.
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Published: Jan. 15, 2013 at 12:32 PM
By KATE STANTON, UPI.com

After Novel Prize-winning economist Paul Krugman called Jon Stewart "lazy" for mocking the idea of minting a trillion dollar coin to avoid the debt ceiling, the "Daily Show" host followed up with a segment calling Krugman "the rare gray-bearded urban laureate."

It all started with a blog post for the New York Times. Krugman criticized an earlier "Daily Show" segment, in which Stewart called the platinum coin idea "mak[ing] sh** up." Krugman wrote that Stewart's team had been "lazy" and demonstrated a "lack of professionalism."

Yes, it’s a comedy show — but the jokes are supposed to be (and usually are) knowing jokes, which are funny and powerful precisely because the Daily Show people have done their homework and understand the real issues better than the alleged leaders spouting nonsense. In this case, however, it’s obvious that nobody at TDS spent even a few minutes researching the topic. It was just yuk-yuk-yuk they’re talking about a trillion-dollar con hahaha.

Krugman also told ABC Sunday he felt Stewart was "ruining his own brand" with the coin segment.

"I'm pretty sure that is my brand," Stewart fired back on Monday night's "Daily Show." "If somebody is ruining their brand with a trillion dollar coin idea, I don't think it’s the non-economist," Stewart said.

As Krugman pointed out in his post, he's not the only person to question Stewart's take on the platinum coin. New York Magazine's Jonathan Chait called it a "crushing disappointment" and Washington Monthly's Ryan Cooper deemed it "irresponsible."

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