paul krugman is a genius...and deserves his nobel prize...

[islandmkl]

he knows more about economics than any number of other people....

i find that the bright spotlight of fame may have turned him into a 'star'...which, to me, seems to be overwhelming the true intellectual that he is...

it happens to many, if not most...it does invalidate anything he says, it just changes the aspect of 'why he said it'...

krugman has gone from 'expert' to 'commentator'...with no particular vehicle to implement his theories...

advice, even from a Nobel Prize Winner, is cheap when it has no responsiblity...

[Uzybone]

1. I just wish he would do the right thing and serve

at this time of great need. I admire and respect Krugman, but shooting darts from the sidelines (no matter how deservedly) should not be what he is doing right now. We need all hands on deck.

Since he is on the outside looking in, he has every right and duty to speak out, but I wish he wanted to be on the inside helping fix this mess.

[elleng]

2. I suspect that if Prez O asked him, he'd serve.

THERE's the rub. I hope (and expect) that he's read in the WH.

[HooptieWagon]

5. The PTB

are making sure that Krugman and Dean (the two major voices challenging the corporatocracy)are nowhere near the Obama administration and have no voice in policy. The DLC candidate lost, but the DLC is doing their damnedest to make sure they have their tenticles in the halls of power.

[elleng]

7. He DOES read the NYTimes, I'm sure.

.

[Occam Bandage]

20. Krugman said after the election, in public, that he has no desire to work in the Obama admin.

Blame Krugman for the fact that he isn't implementing policy.

[MercutioATC]

3. Has he been offered a position?

I think offering him Geithner's job would be a good start.

...and he needs a Deputy who will do the unpopular work...like explaining to the American people how THEY caused most of this...not in an accusatory way, but in a way that they learn from their mistakes.

[Uzybone]

4. Krugman said publicly after the election that he has no desire to work in govt

so I don't know if The President offered him a spot, but Krugman makes it clear he doesn't want one.

To me its like Micheal Jordan saying he doesn't want to play in the final 5 minutes of a championship game.

[Jennicut]

6. Yeah, I don't get it either. Maybe there is bad blood there, who knows?

[lamp_shade]

11. Bad blood... I agree. n/t

[Occam Bandage]

21. Or maybe he thinks he's got a pretty sweet gig as it is,

what with him being a Nobel-prizewinning tenured academic at one of the most prestigious institutions in the world, as well as one of the most widely-read and influential economics columnists in the world. Is it so hard to think that he wouldn't want to trade that for the chance to spend four stormy, stressful years permanently affixing his name to the worst economic situation in nearly a century?

[elleng]

8. Offering an academic such an administrative type job

is NOT a good idea, imo; its like elevating the best teacher in the school to principal. We've got to match skills with available jobs.

[MercutioATC]

9. Understood, but when your pool of prospective principals consists solely of idiots...

...you might have to just hire the guy with the right ideas.

[elleng]

10. A smart leader would figure out how to make use of the guys ideas

without putting him into a position that he is not capable of handling.

PS, I like Paul O'Neill very much.

[NJmaverick]

12. Only if there was a Nobel prize for lying or being an asshole

[TankLV]

22. as usual, you've proven you know NOTHING...

and proven who the "asshole" is - by your many posts...

[camera obscura]

23. OH MY GOSH! I take back anything good I ever said about Krugman. You've opened my eyes.

I mean, some person on the internet is calling him a lying asshole for no specific reason! That's the kind of convincing, well-thought out argument our national discourse could use more of.

[Dawgs]

13. "he knows more about economics than any number of other people...."

But doesn't know shit about politics.

He would get destroyed in Washington.

[Ikonoklast]

19. This is the most cogent post on the subject of Krugman yet.

I agree completely.

Krugman is not a politician. He would get steamrolled in Washington.

Many are missing the reality of that one small fact.

[cali]

14. uh, commentator is his job at the NYT

and he's been doing it for years. long before he received the Nobel.

[Senator]

15. Krugman Has Been A "Commentator" Since 1990

It is Obama that is the starstruck, newbie-insider here.

--

[HughMoran]

16. "It is Obama that is the starstruck, newbie-insider here."

Krugman was relatively unknown until recently. Heck, I'm a commentator on DU :D

[Senator]

17. Yes, while that does bear repeating (thanx), . . .

... no one that's into their 10th year on the pages of the NY Times can accurately be called "relatively unknown."

Perhaps the phrase you were looking for (or should be) is, "the relatively unknowing."

--

[GeorgeGist]

18. Not really ...

although it doesn't take a genius to see that capitalists doesn't work FOR the economy; they steal FROM it, via profit.

[LittleBlue]

24. This is eerily similar to the Bush supporters' claim

that sideline critics deserve no merit, because he is the CIC and responsible for running the war, the lives of soldiers, etc. Oh how sadly ironic this has become!


:rofl:

[chimpymustgo]

26. Eerily similar.

[Quezacoatl]

25. Krugman has tied his own credibility to Obama's failure

I like Krugman a lot. He's a brilliant economist. I agree with him on most things. I even agree with some of his concerns.

BUT

Economics is not a science and he has invested SO MUCH of his efforts in repeated criticisms of Obama's economic policies that if Obama succeeds Krugman will suffer a huge credibility loss.

He's getting dangerously close to the point where his credibility is tied to Obama's failure. I mean if Obama succeeds in turning the economy around, how much credibility will Krugman have for the remainder of Obama's terms?

[Larkspur]

28. Wrong again. Krugman would be happy to be wrong, but he's doing his duty as a citizen

who is an professional economists and helping us see through the Geithner-Summers pro-Wall Street spin. Geithner is risking our economy and future on the same psychopaths on Wall Street who helped create the disaster we are in now. That's the same plan that Hank Paulson had.

[Phx_Dem]

27. Makes you wonder why such a genuis is working as a colunist for the NY Times?