Thank you, Paul Krugman!
Posted by Carolan Gladden at 8/8/2011 8:19 AM 
Categories: Protesting, Media, Stupidity, Current Events, Ideas, Economy
Categories: Protesting, Media, Stupidity, Current Events, Ideas, Economy
Again, the brilliant yet down-to-earth economist Paul Krugman has brought rationality to a contentious subject, as well as understanding to anyone who can read!
In a NY Times column titled Credibility, Chutzpah And Debt, he first reminds us why Standard & Poor's downward rating of the credit of our country should not be taken as gospel. As he says, S&P is the last place anyone should turn for judgments about our nation’s prospects.
Why, you ask? By being a major cause of the economic situation we are in by ... giving AAA ratings to mortgage-backed assets that have since turned into toxic waste and ... Notoriously, S.& P. gave Lehman Brothers, whose collapse triggered a global panic, an A rating right up to the month of its demise.
Here's how Mr. Krugman eloquently phrases it: If there’s a single word that best describes the rating agency’s decision to downgrade America, it’s chutzpah — traditionally defined by the example of the young man who kills his parents, then pleads for mercy because he’s an orphan.
And here's the important bottom line:
The truth is that as far as the straight economics goes, America’s long-run fiscal problems shouldn’t be all that hard to fix. It’s true that an aging population and rising health care costs will, under current policies, push spending up faster than tax receipts. But the United States has far higher health costs than any other advanced country, and very low taxes by international standards. If we could move even part way toward international norms on both these fronts, our budget problems would be solved.
Positively,
Carolan
In a NY Times column titled Credibility, Chutzpah And Debt, he first reminds us why Standard & Poor's downward rating of the credit of our country should not be taken as gospel. As he says, S&P is the last place anyone should turn for judgments about our nation’s prospects.
Why, you ask? By being a major cause of the economic situation we are in by ... giving AAA ratings to mortgage-backed assets that have since turned into toxic waste and ... Notoriously, S.& P. gave Lehman Brothers, whose collapse triggered a global panic, an A rating right up to the month of its demise.
Here's how Mr. Krugman eloquently phrases it: If there’s a single word that best describes the rating agency’s decision to downgrade America, it’s chutzpah — traditionally defined by the example of the young man who kills his parents, then pleads for mercy because he’s an orphan.
And here's the important bottom line:
The truth is that as far as the straight economics goes, America’s long-run fiscal problems shouldn’t be all that hard to fix. It’s true that an aging population and rising health care costs will, under current policies, push spending up faster than tax receipts. But the United States has far higher health costs than any other advanced country, and very low taxes by international standards. If we could move even part way toward international norms on both these fronts, our budget problems would be solved.
So why can’t we do that? Because we have a powerful political movement in this country that screamed “death panels” in the face of modest efforts to use Medicare funds more effectively, and preferred to risk financial catastrophe rather than agree to even a penny in additional revenues.
The real question facing America ... is whether the extremists now blocking any kind of responsible policy can be defeated and marginalized
Yes, the time is here for the literate public, the progressives who won't be beaten down by the likes of tea partiers or zealots of any stripe to demand that those who are elected to serve in the House and Senate understand that their job is to benefit the country -- not their party or their pet projects!Positively,
Carolan
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