Comments | cool_moose: "Left Behind Economics" Paul Krugman, NY Times

cool_moose

"Left Behind Economics" Paul Krugman, NY Times

Jul 19, 2006 07:59

Well, I'm off to Toronto and Montreal for a little vacation/family time. So I'll just borrow a July 14th NY Times "Op-Ed" article - that rings so true. Hope you all are enjoying the summer. I certainly am - although I'm still struggling with this mouthful of new teeth ('teef') ... when I ask Sandra for a spoon - it comes out "fpoon". Dammit ( Read more... )

Comments 12

mcfnord July 19 2006, 08:35:58 UTC

Why doesn't President Bush get credit for a great economy? I blame liberal media bias.

cool_moose July 19 2006, 09:51:00 UTC

As Bush would say "If they'd just stop that "shit", things would get better". If it works for the Israel/Hezbollah mess, I'm sure it would work for the economy.

cobalt999 July 19 2006, 12:35:28 UTC

Though I'm typically not a fan of Krugman's smug potshots, I certainly agree with him here in principle.

colinmarshall July 19 2006, 14:25:49 UTC

... and hey, at least he didn't post a Dowd column!

cobalt999 July 19 2006, 21:16:02 UTC

Yeah, but I don't think even Dowd takes herself seriously.

colinmarshall July 20 2006, 01:24:16 UTC

Spouting lines like "All men want is a virgin in a gingham dress," one would hope she doesn't take herself seriously.

(Silly Maureen. We don't demand gingham dresses.)

Krugman's smugness doesn't really bother me -- after all, I'm a member of the generation that idolizes, uh, Jon Stewart -- but his tendency to ask the wrong questions or none at all about serious problems is precisely what I detest about pundits on all sides. For example -- and I'm referring to more his columns in general than this specific one -- I think we can all agree that the presence of a lot of people below a certain income threshold at which a decent life can no longer be purchased is a Bad Thing. While it would be worthwhile to ask how these people could be made more productive, Krugman would rather harp on "wealth gaps," "high-level corporate executives" and "Bush" while the praise from (potentially even smugger) NYT readers rolls on in.

Thread 7

shofarot July 26 2006, 05:32:23 UTC

Interesting read. Canadians are constantly bombarded about how much better the USA's economy performs when it comes to real economic growth; however, often the reality behind the numbers is simply left out or smoothed over.

I tend to believe that in the USA the poor get sent to fight wars, the middle class get sent to university to be brainwashed into working as 'living deads', while the upper classes spend their endless leisure time devising more efficient and complex ways to increase the gap between themselves and everyone else.

It is perhaps for this reason that I prefer a middle of the road approach, where taxation and government spending help protect common property, maintain institutions, and provide opportunities to those less-fortunate.

cobalt999 September 4 2006, 06:59:32 UTC

That would pretty much be my assessment of a United States class breakdown. Though far more of the poor spend their days serving food or cleaning hotel rooms than serve in the armed forces.

shofarot September 4 2006, 08:29:16 UTC

I am even for capital gains taxes, but where they are applied at higher rates on high capital gains earners (the rich) and relatively low rates on those who earn less from capital gains (generally the middle class).

Homesellers - where the home is the primary residence - should remain exempt from paying taxes on any capital gain since this exemption protects the market and encourages home ownership.

How you doing being back? You know you wandered off with my sister's city map - don't worry, she hasn't said anything ;-)