Paul Krugman: Wall Street Switched Parties Because 'Greed Trumps Gay Rights'

The New York Times:

Last year the G.O.P. pulled off two spectacular examples of bait-and-switch campaigning. Medicare, where the same people who screamed about death panels are now trying to dismantle the whole program, was the most obvious. But the same thing
happened with regard to financial reform.

Read the whole story: The New York Times

Comments

[wordenreport]

03:39 PM on 05/21/2011

So Wall Street's politics follows greed. Hardly a surprise. What, then, can be counted on to constrain the avarice that is apparently all too present in the human condition? Religion? On that, see my essay at http://thewordenreport.blogspot.com/2011/02/godliness-greed-how-effective-is.html

[YouTubeJEFF9K]

10:00 PM on 05/03/2011

Will people listen, now that Paul Krugman has been found to be the most accurate predictor among American columnists? I doubt that Republicans will. They would rather think that they have been right all along than to man-up, change course, and actually be right.

[justaguyy]

06:35 PM on 05/03/2011

In short, the Federal Government, however solid its finances may currently appear, is in fact living utterly beyond its means. While the present generation of retirees is doing very nicely, the promises that are being made to those now working cannot be honored.

[justaguyy]

06:35 PM on 05/03/2011

Generous benefits for the elderly are feasible as long as there are relatively few retirees compared with the number of taxpaying workers — which is the current situation, because the baby boomers swell the workforce. In 2010, however, the boomers will begin to retire. Every year thereafter, for the next quarter-century, several million 65-year-olds will leave the rolls of taxpayers and begin claiming their benefits.

The budgetary effects of this demographic tidal wave are straightforward to compute, but so huge as almost to defy comprehension. Mr. Peterson, the chairman of the Blackstone Group, a private investment bank, informs us that ”the combined Federal cost of Social Security and Medicare, expressed as a share of workers’ taxable payroll, is officially projected to rise from the already burdensome 17 percent in 1995 to between 35 and 55 percent in 2040. And this figure does not include the many other costs — from nursing homes to civil service and military pensions — that are destined to grow along with the age wave.”

[FDRbyGodDemocrat]

04:23 PM on 05/03/2011

Did Mel Brooks write the headline?
Springtime for Bankers and Bureaucrats,
Winter for Tax-paying Folks...

[apogee2perogee]

02:06 PM on 05/03/2011

From WhereSheStops: "Conservati­ves don't need studies the way liberals do. Conservati­ves go about their daily lives in a conservati­ve way."

They don't need no stinkin' facts, just adherence to dogma. They can simply divine their way to truth with their instincts. Good luck with that.

[jimboy71]

01:16 PM on 05/03/2011

GOP Logic:

When you get caught with your hand in the cookie jar, complain that the mouth is too tight.

[AnthropologistAmongApes]

03:10 PM on 05/03/2011

And tell everyone there are no more cookies.

[jimboy71]

03:15 PM on 05/03/2011

Wait...no more cookies? Are you sure? Imma have a meltdown right about now...

Oh...metaphor...right.

[humanbeing-rick]

10:21 AM on 05/03/2011

Bravo again, Paul Krugman, our knight in shining armor!
"More and bigger crises; more and bigger bailouts; more and bigger deficits. If you like that prospect, you should love what the G.O.P. is doing to financial reform."

The GOP betrays the interests of the American people, with their bait & switch tactics.
The people are getting wise to them now.

[JacksonAndy78]

03:10 AM on 05/03/2011

GOP’s two bait-and-switch campaigns

1. Medicare - scream about death panels -- now trying to dismantle the program

2. BANK Bailouts - Ran Against Them but now ensuring bigger bailouts to come

Wall Street GREED says “NO” to only solution - Regulation limiting the frequency and size of financial crises, and rules that so government gets a good deal if bailouts happen.

[cincinnati]

04:05 AM on 05/03/2011

mostly agree...

Wall St. has owned the GOP for over 100 year's.
Bush joked about this in a dinner, calling them
and fellow king-maker's " my base ! "

That's why Republican Teddy Roosevelt broke from
them and became a Progressive. A free market is
one thing, and generally productive and helps all.
Dominance of a market, unfair influence, corruption,
this is far different and something we really should not stand for.

But of course the Dem's get too influenced by Wall St. also.
How else can you explain basically only Madoff going to jail
out of the perhaps 1-200 crooks who took, or tried to take,
billions ?

If we send kids to prison for stealing thousands,
then an aggressive Fed and NY probe should put
these greedy people away for an easy 10-20.

[JacksonAndy78]

04:12 AM on 05/03/2011

Both Parties are Legally Bribed by Wall Street:

$10 Million on average per Senator / 4 years - CBS Reports $5 Billion over ten years!

[commonsensepost]

01:10 AM on 05/03/2011

This guy deserved his nobel prize in economics like Obama deserves his for Peace.

What's the over under on assasinations and wars started under his all-too-long 4 year term!?

[einzelgaenger]

07:42 AM on 05/03/2011

So you think the Nobel is something to be looked up to?

[muck-raker]

07:09 PM on 05/02/2011

short video, 5 min how the US Colonists kicked Britain out of our country and how they came back in 1913 with their corrupt banks to undermine our interest

http://www.metacafe.com/watch/499802/masters_of_the_universe_the_secret_birth_of_the_federal_reserve/

[muck-raker]

07:01 PM on 05/02/2011

easily the best short read of the month....Somewhere a Banker Smiles

http://www.joebageant.com/joe/2006/12/somewhere_a_ban.html

[bthechangeyouseek]

09:09 AM on 05/04/2011

Nice article and still relevant.

[WhereSheStops]

06:11 PM on 05/02/2011

Wall Street was invested in gay rights? And then switched sides?

[Botany5000]

06:06 PM on 05/02/2011

Kurgman is a testament to the fact that the Ivy League has lost its luster,
and is now just a collective of like thinkers.
Princeton ought to be ashamed.

[AnthropologistAmongApes]

12:29 PM on 05/03/2011

The Chicago School deserves that credit, along with demolishing the middle class for the sake of ideological purity. Greedy people should be ashamed.

[jimboy71]

01:18 PM on 05/03/2011

What in particular did you find problematic with his analysis?

[breakingpoint]

05:17 PM on 05/02/2011

that's what you get with as two party system

just say it paul

"the only difference between the Democrats and Republicans is the velocity with which their knees hit the floor when corporations knock on their door"