Krugman Talks About His Oval Office Meeting With Bush: "I Just Want To Know My Nickname" (VIDEO)

Paul Krugman appeared on MSNBC's "Countdown with Keith Olbermann" Tuesday to talk about the day's bailout news. Krugman, who recently received the Nobel Prize in Economics, visited the White House Monday with the other winners to meet with President Bush. Olbermann asked Krugman, a persistent critic of the President, whether there was "any chance he revealed his plans for the economy in his last weeks in office and if not, was it difficult to shake that hand?" Krugman's response: "This is not a moment to try and change policy.... I just want to know my nickname."

WATCH:
(Relevant part of the interview begins at around the 7:00 minute mark.)

Comments

[Ontrackmac]

07:52 AM on 12/03/2008

PK needs to hold a position in the Obama Admin.
Get on with moving the country in a different direction.Screw trying to collaborate with the outgoing gang of thugs...Brush them out of the way as quick as possible. I cannot and do not care what Bush has to say other than "I'm Sorry"(Lotta good that does) about all the idiotic decisions he's made over the last 8 yrs.
I really do not want to hear any more Bush talk...2009(The beginning of the healing era) can't come quick enough...And with it comes pain as the healing wounds of 8+ yrs of Bush inflicted injury to one and all worldwide begin to scab over.

[menshadow]

11:48 PM on 11/27/2008

OK, here's my plan. Let the banks fail. When they fail, they will be taken over by the FDIC. The board and directors and senior officers fired, and the bank immediately reopens as the Bank of the United States. Then they free up the credit with the bailout money. Earnings over cost would pay back the loan, and any further earnings are distributed as a tax credit.

Screw the banks, and the bankers.

And pass usury laws, for heaven's sake.

[cactusgal]

05:45 PM on 11/26/2008

Nerd Blossom

[Bitsko]

04:29 PM on 11/26/2008

"Bunny face"?

[BabsfromKansas]

05:28 PM on 11/26/2008

You know I go for nerdy guys with beards!

[CBS]

02:52 PM on 11/26/2008

Boosh is dyslexic so I bet he calls him Freddie because he can't get past the first 4 letters...all the same to him. Will be so glad when he is gone

[Enid]

02:22 PM on 11/26/2008

Just by reducing the deplorable interest charge on credit cards and rules that cause increases in rates if you do not make your monthly payment. Often the monthly payment just covers their monthly interest. These rates would be usury in most states. The banks are operating in bad faith extorting interest rates via laws they bought in two states that allow these rates too happen avoiding other states laws against such practices.

[motoGpifupleez]

01:17 PM on 11/26/2008

How about "The smartest guy in the room"?

[DragonMama]

12:41 PM on 11/26/2008

My guess to Paul's nicknake: Mister Smarty Righty Lefty Pants. About the level of maturity I'd expect of the current White House resident.

[BabsfromKansas]

12:01 PM on 11/26/2008

Fuzzy Wuzzy Snookums!

[tellner]

11:25 AM on 11/26/2008

"Cassandra"

[SailFree]

10:56 AM on 11/26/2008

Krugman appeared to behave decently. Olbermann, as usual, did not.

[TrooAmerican]

10:13 AM on 11/26/2008

How Bout "Kruger" or just Freddie.

[hjfraser2002]

10:45 AM on 11/26/2008

Do you not like him?

[rabiddog6708]

11:27 PM on 11/29/2008

Nice uername....when you have to proclaim it, it probably isn't obvious to others or true.

[dphilip]

10:07 AM on 11/26/2008

No he doesn't.

[Revolt916]

09:57 AM on 11/26/2008

Krugman said that his wife made small talk with Bush about her childhood in Texas.No, could it be that Bush is still a child.

[Samalabear]

09:55 AM on 11/26/2008

I still agree with a bunch of other comments on this site. Give substantial money directly to the taxpayers so they can wipe out their credit, wipe out their mortgages or bring them up to date, open savings accounts, start businesses or revive businesses that are being strangled, pay back taxes, etc.

Others have talked about this idea better than I, but unfreezing credit and lending the money back to the taxpayers at exorbitant rates is abhorrent. Creating more debt is abhorrent. How many taxpayers are still "credit-worthy"? Do taxpayers really want to bury themselves in more debt so they can default again as their incomes continue to erode or be lost altogether through job loss? Credit is a dirty word.

I would love to know what Krugman would think of this real "trickle-up" approach.

[laocoon]

10:48 AM on 11/26/2008

things dont trickle up. they percolate up.

[oafishcad]

05:20 PM on 11/26/2008

And they also never trickle down.

[CrackerJacker]

11:59 AM on 11/26/2008

Unfortunately, the notion of giving lots of bailout funds to the consumer would be just as fraught with dangers as the current plan, where the funds go to the banks. As it stands, the banks are given the funds to attempt to stabilise themselves, but inevitably, some, most, or even all of them will misuse the funds for their own means, and they'll fall apart once their only crutch is gone; make no mistake, this is their only crutch - public finance.

The alternative is to deliver the funds directly to the public, and have the wealth be spread(Or whatever you want to call it, I wasn't implying anything by the words I chose). The issue with that, is that just like the problem with the banks getting the funds, people are stupid. Both in high-paying jobs and in the low-rent sectors of the economy, incompetency is rife, and much like the way the banks are getting the money and holding it to their chest instead of recirculating it via loans and mortgages, the public are every bit as likely to withhold funds from the institutions.

Cont.>>>