You should read the entire piece. But if you don't want to take the time, here is the conclusion:
We’re paralyzed in the face of mass unemployment and out-of-control health care costs. Don’t blame Mr. Obama. There’s only so much one man can do, even if he sits in the White House. Blame our political culture instead, a culture that rewards hypocrisy and irresponsibility rather than serious efforts to solve America’s problems. And blame the filibuster, under which 41 senators can make the country ungovernable, if they choose — and they have so chosen.
I’m sorry to say this, but the state of the union — not the speech, but the thing itself — isn’t looking very good.
The only thing I disagree with Krugman about, as is typical, is health care. If the bill that the government seems to want to pass, the Senate bill or anything remotely like it, is the one they actually pass, health care prices won't be affected at all.
ReplyDeleteThat an economist doesn't seem to understand this really does show what a hopeless pickle we're in.
I suspect that people like Paul Krugman, Brad DeLong, Joseph Stiglitz, or any number of other excellent economists who could have steered President Hoover II straight have never gotten a single call from the man. He has disappeared into the Washington Bubble where “conventional thinking” (i.e., thinking by cretins, for consumption by cretins) is all that counts, and we’re all going to pay the price for that.
ReplyDeleteIn short, I believe Mr. Krugman is actually being easy on President Hoover II. President Hoover II has not said or done anything to indicate that he's any different from his predecessor on things economic, whether it's magical thinking about taxes, or whatever.
- Badtux the Economics Penguin