What was I just saying the other day about recession economics? Seems I’m in pretty good company on that point.
The point is that running big deficits in the face of the worst economic slump since the 1930s is actually the right thing to do. If anything, deficits should be bigger than they are because the government should be doing more than it is to create jobs.
True, there is a longer-term budget problem.
Again, forgive me. More on health care reform. This time from my other favorite economic smart guy, Paul Krugman:
Let’s talk about health care around the advanced world.Every wealthy country other than the United States guarantees essential care to all its citizens. There are, however, wide variations in the specifics, with three main approaches taken. [link.]
I’ve deliberately tried to stay out of politics for a while, but damn. The stuff that’s going on lately is getting surreal. Tea parties? I’m inclined to agree with economic smart guy Paul Krugman when he says that, while he feels bad making fun of crazy people, he has to call them out anyway.
For a second dose of reality, try my other favorite economic smart guy, Robert Riech, who busts some of the right-winger’s tax myths. (LINK FIXED)
Seriously, though, these protesters are scaring me. I hate to sound alarmist (the chief difference between me and them, perhaps), but you know what I see when I look at this stuff? Oklahoma City.
Apparently I’m not the only one who wonders why Paul Krugman isn’t in charge of something important in the government.
Speaking of smart people, dig Rachel Maddow’s Deregulation for Dummies. (What, you heard the financial crisis was caused by poor people borrowing money they couldn’t afford via the Community Reinvestment Act? Not so. According to Fed chairman Ben Bernanke, “Our own experience with CRA over more than 30 years and recent analysis of available data, including data on subprime loan performance, runs counter to the charge that CRA was at the root of, or otherwise contributed in any substantive way to, the current mortgage difficulties.”)
It’s not the aging baby boomers that’s going to bankrupt us. It’s the rising cost of health care. Paul Krugman explains.