Krugman is a concert violinist playing in a bluegrass hootenanny World

[zulchzulu]

I understand Krugman's economics and enjoy what he writes. I don't always agree with him, but he certainly has a lot to say on the issues of economics and healthcare reform and is a needed voice in our time. He is a purist, perhaps in the level that a University professor can tell you theory and aesthetics but all of that is thrown out the window when you graduate and enter the Real World.

I think that now isn't the time to be a purist in the economic world. These are uncharted waters. The very idea of Krugman being in charge would scare the Bejesus out Wall Street and we would be in a lot worse shape than we are now.

Krugman is a concert violinist playing in a bluegrass hootenanny World.

[DrToast]

1. Well...

The very idea of Krugman being in charge would scare the Bejesus out Wall Street and we would be in a lot worse shape than we are now.

The very idea of Krugman being in charge should scare the bejesus out of everyone.

[dave_p]

9. Not me!

I think it'd scare the bejesus out of PK too! But the notion of leaving this mess to a clutch of recycled '90s apparatchiks scares me a whole lot more. They haven't delivered the goods, and they couldn't reasonably be expected to (though BO didn't know what he'd face when he picked them).

They can at least listen, and contemplate the deeper implications of a disaster their experience couldn't have prepared them for. The task now is to ease in new faces better able to face this nightmare. I think BO gets it: he just needs time to know he gets it. But that's what the voters picked him for - a choice that just seems smarter with every passing day.

[Larkspur]

11. I'd rather have Krugman than the Wall Street Toadies in charge

The Wall Street toadies -- Geithner and Summers -- don't give a dam about the ordinary working American. They're Wall Street exec sycophants.

[phantom power]

2. The waters we are in happen to be Krugman's specialty.

Deflationary economics.

Just sayin.

[dave_p]

3. don't knock the hootenanny

Hey, there's nothing wrong with a bluegrass hootenanny. If only Krugman's critics could rise to that level of accomplishment. He's a concert violinist in a world of nosediving short-selling shouts, blaring but unheard alarm sirens and downsizing removal-truck horns.

[zulchzulu]

5. OK, he's a Bach violinist playing in an orchestra playing Stockhausen

I love hootenannies. I've even played in some in the past... mandolin, baby!

[dave_p]

7. Don't knock the Stockhausen!

Yeah, he ain't my thing either. But respect the dude for being so... impenetrable. :rofl:

[zulchzulu]

12. Certainly not! I was going to mention Edgar Varese...

...but Frank Z loved that dude.

[Enrique]

4. how is he a purist?

I see him as being pragmatic.

[Bad Thoughts]

6. Bluegrass fiddlers could give Classical Violinists a run for their money

Many are classically trained and can improvise.

[PurityOfEssence]

8. Ah, the voice of true Americanism:

Intellectuals are weirdos. The world is run by us common folk, who still keep some losers in reserve to belittle as we sneer at the nerds.

One can hardly listen to an hour of any radio station anywhere without hearing some DJ reminding us how he/she can't do simple math or recall any history if any was ever learned in the first place. Love me, I'm unthreatening.

This is not a time for peer-pressure group-tyranny bullshit, this is a time for dynamic and drastic action. Much as our President has some things right, he's still FAR too given to playing to the cheap seats and studiously avoiding pissing anyone off. Maybe he's not truly a corporatist in his heart, but he's so consistent in enabling them that it doesn't really matter.

[dave_p]

10. Give him time

I was suspicious of Obama throughout the nomination contest, but he's amazed me since with his insight and honesty. Thinking this mess through is sound strategy at this time. He isn't the new boss storming in, firing everyone and binning all the memos. There's no quick fix, so give him time to come up with an alternative that works. I trust him to do that better than most. And we have time, whatever the doom-mongers may say.