Monday, January 19, 2009

Krugman gets specific

I take back all my unkind complaints about Krugman doing too much generalizing. This opener is rather clear, and amusing besides.
Old-fashioned voodoo economics — the belief in tax-cut magic — has been banished from civilized discourse. The supply-side cult has shrunk to the point that it contains only cranks, charlatans, and Republicans.
And he offers a straightforward suggestion on bailing out investment bankers.
Why go through these contortions? The answer seems to be that Washington remains deathly afraid of the N-word — nationalization. The truth is that Gothamgroup and its sister institutions are already wards of the state, utterly dependent on taxpayer support; but nobody wants to recognize that fact and implement the obvious solution: an explicit, though temporary, government takeover. Hence the popularity of the new voodoo, which claims, as I said, that elaborate financial rituals can reanimate dead banks.
Neither does he mince words when assessing the ideologues among economists. I love it when he talks like that.

[More posts daily at The Detroit News.]

Labels: , ,

Bookmark and Share

2 Comments:

Blogger Capt. Fogg said...

I've always been a fan of his.

9:28:00 AM  
Blogger Libby Spencer said...

I've run a bit hot and cold with Paul, but he's been rocking the house lately.

9:41:00 AM  

Post a Comment

<< Home