Tuesday, December 16, 2008

Krugman: Conscience of a Liberal

Krugman's book for the most part was an exciting as any of his columns, somewhere in the middle the section on the rise of the movement conservatism was somewhat boring since this has been rehashed several times in the press and elsewhere ad nauseam for the last several years. A few points were eye opening for me.
  • The central claim of Krugman is : The middle class in the United States did not evolve automatically as the economy matured, but was created through government policy and intervention, by Roosevelt and the New Deal.
  • The second claim is : The inequality of wages in the United States is not a result of technological advancements but of government policy.
Let's discuss the points below the fold.
  • in progress ...

  • Similar levels of technology in other western nations from Canada to France did not result in similar degrees of disparity, only Britain with similar policies during Thatcher saw spikes in inequality.



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Bush sees Iraqi sole (size 10)

I can only think of Milton, "the ignominy and shame beneath this downfall"



  • This is clearly a far far more effective form of protest than if the guy blew himself up. This actually draws focus on his grievances, I hope other Iraqis take notice.

  • This is also a form of democratic protest, not unlike the caricatures of world leaders at WTO conferences or nude marches on earth-day. So in some way this is the beginning of democratic protests in Iraq, ..., in a twisted way something that Bush claims to have tried to do.

  • In other news, some rich Saudi has offered to buy the shoes for 10 million dollars. The journalist faces anywhere from two to fifteen years in prison. Although I think the government might have to relent on public pressure.

And here is the rest of it. Read more!