He wants an alien invasion.

Because then, you see, the government would then have a legitimate incentive to spend more money and make our national debt much worse.

But since no aliens are forthcoming, Krugman has a better idea: Just get a bunch of scientists to tell us that we're threatened with an alien invasion.

Too bad Orson Welles isn't around to reprise his 1938 "War Of The Worlds" broadcast.

But Krugman continues: Once those scientists tell us that aliens are invading, they should then tell us that "in order to be prepared for that alien invasion, we have to do things like build high-speed rail."

Because building a high-speed rail is generally the first thing to do when threatened with an alien invasion.

After all, no Alien hatchling would ever try to ram an ovipositor down your throat and lay its egg in your chest once it sees how cool your high-speed rails are!

We joke, of course. But, oddly enough, Bill Maher (who calls himself a comedian) didn't find the humor in Krugman's comments.

We can't imagine why.

Oh, by the way: Krugman suggests that once the high-speed rail is built, those scientists should then come clean and admit that there was no alien invasion forthcoming after all.

So it's defintely a plausible scenario.

Have a look at the video from NewsBusters below.