Paul Krugman's Friday column. Right On as Usual.

[rgbecker]

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/13/opinion/13krugman.html

"It’s “generational theft,” said Senator John McCain, just a few days after voting for tax cuts that would, over the next decade, have cost about four times as much."

Read it and thank God there are a few voices out there advising Obama to do what is needed.

[liberal N proud]

1. Mr. Obama has to be stronger looking forward?

He looks plenty strong enough to me. He has overcome completely reganomics committed republican caucus who still think the tax cuts are the answer to every problem.

[DCKit]

3. Ah, but only tax cuts for the wealthy.

The rest of us don't produce anything or spend enough to matter.

[JDPriestly]

2. What has to be turned around is the American mind-set

which has been twisted by the conservative propaganda of the past 44 years (since 1965) to a backward-looking position.

[Greyhound]

5. Or lack of understanding how things work and the very scale of our nation. n/t

:kick:

[truedelphi]

7. I watched the tale end of the "Money Channel's" "HOuse of Cards"

And they spent an inordinate amount of time on how the middle class went hog wild borrowing against their home equity.
Those mistakes amount to about 8 or 9 trillion dollars, even if you add in all the domino-style fallout (The mortgage industry goes belly up, so those people default, then the local restaurants suffer, then the other local suppliers suffer, etc)

The scope of the derivatives, which is what really should worry people was discussed, but much more briefly. As though the 550 Trillion dollars in derivative losses are somehow less significant than the 9 trillion brought about by sub prime, foreclosures, defaults on credit cards, auto loans etc.)

One failure can be blamed on the poor and middle incomed, and one only on those "experts" with their Ivy League schooling, and fancy pants creation of so many of the financial products that caused the collapse. Interesting too, that at the end of the program, Greenspan was not in the least contrite, but chalked up the whole thing to "human nature."

[Greyhound]

4. From another excellent piece...

And the ugliness of the political debate matters because it raises doubts about the Obama administration’s ability to come back for more if, as seems likely, the stimulus bill proves inadequate.

For while Mr. Obama got more or less what he asked for, he almost certainly didn’t ask for enough. We’re probably facing the worst slump since the Great Depression. The Congressional Budget Office, not usually given to hyperbole, predicts that over the next three years there will be a $2.9 trillion gap between what the economy could produce and what it will actually produce. And $800 billion, while it sounds like a lot of money, isn’t nearly enough to bridge that chasm.

Over all, the effect was to kick the can down the road. And that’s not good enough. So far the Obama administration’s response to the economic crisis is all too reminiscent of Japan in the 1990s: a fiscal expansion large enough to avert the worst, but not enough to kick-start recovery; support for the banking system, but a reluctance to force banks to face up to their losses. It’s early days yet, but we’re falling behind the curve.

And I don’t know about you, but I’ve got a sick feeling in the pit of my stomach — a feeling that America just isn’t rising to the greatest economic challenge in 70 years. The best may not lack all conviction, but they seem alarmingly willing to settle for half-measures. And the worst are, as ever, full of passionate intensity, oblivious to the grotesque failure of their doctrine in practice.

(emphasis added)

What the fuck is wrong with us? Argh!
:kick: & R

[GeorgeGist]

6. Look in the mirror Paul ...

"And the worst are, as ever, full of passionate intensity, oblivious to the grotesque failure of their doctrine in practice."


The doctrine is C-A-P-I-T-A-L-I-S-M.