Economist (Princeton University) and New York Times Op-Ed columnist Paul Krugman has been writing about the coming market collapse for years. He warned of the perils of the housing bubble and predicted what would happen when (not if) it burst. So it begs the question, why wouldn't anyone take the advice of this really bright guy who was able to look ahead and see what was coming right down Wall Street? I have a theory. It is because he is a Liberal. When a Liberal like Professor Krugman warns of coming economic doom, the Right quickly pounces and says, "Oh, Krugman is a pessimistic Liberal ! He believes America's best days are behind us! But we Republicans are optimistic. Everything's fine! We believe America's best days are ahead of us. Don't listen to this commie Liberal !"
Well. Not only did Krugman lead the clarion call on the housing bubble, but he is now the leading critic of Secretary of the Treasury Henry Paulson's plan to bail out Wall Street (see Krugman's piece "Cash for Trash" from the New York Times 9/22/08 http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/22/opinion/22krugman.html?_r=1&oref=slogin).
Krugman asks, if the federal government is spending $700 billion in taxpayer money to bail out failing companies, what does it get in return? Why is the government not getting a stake in ownership of these companies in return for the huge amount of cash being plunked down? Furthermore, the proposal asks that there be no review of any of Paulson's decisions. That's right: no oversight at all. Well isn't that how we got into this mess in the first place? Eight years of "What me worry" Bush looking the other way will the fox guarded the henhouse?
Haven't we learned anything from the mistake of our Congress surrendering power to the President on the issue of the Iraq War? This will be the largest government intervention in our country's history. We can't afford to screw it up.
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