Re: Krugman: Bush policies are disaster

From: Count Cottontail (Count1MoreVoteForKerry_at_CottontailClub.net)
Date: 11/30/04 

Date: Tue, 30 Nov 2004 16:15:34 GMT

It's fascinating to read people's comments to this article. Right-wing
Neo-Americans have not the slightest clue about what an $8 trillion national
debt means for this country or what is going to happen as a result of it.
Their ideology makes them ( quite literally ) blind to the future.

The only question in the minds of most Republicans ( if they can be said to
have 'minds' ) seems to be how they can blame the looming credit disaster on
Clinton and the Democrats.

"Patrick Powers" <frisbieinstein@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:9511688f.0411292243.bddff5c@posting.google.com...
> Krugman: Economic Crisis a Question of When, Not If
> Mon Nov 22, 2004 02:22 PM ET
>
> By Pedro Nicolaci da Costa
> NEW YORK (Reuters) - The economic policies of President Bush have set
> the country on a dangerous course that will likely end in crisis,
> Princeton economics professor Paul Krugman told Reuters in an
> interview.
>
> Krugman, who may be best known for his opinion column in The New York
> Times, said he was concerned that Bush's electoral victory over Sen.
> John Kerry earlier this month would only reinforce the
> administration's unwillingness to listen to dissenting opinions.
>
> That, in turn, could spell serious trouble for the U.S. economy, which
> under Bush's first term was plagued by soaring deficits, waning
> investor confidence and anemic job creation.
>
> "This is a group of people who don't believe that any of the rules
> really apply," said Krugman. "They are utterly irresponsible."
>
> Krugman is currently taking some time off from journalism to write and
> promote the second installment of his latest project -- economics
> textbooks aimed at making the science more accessible to college
> students.
>
> In the meantime, however, he worries the Bush administration's fiscal
> policies are going to push the world's largest economy into a rut.
>
> The most immediate worry for Krugman is that Bush will simultaneously
> push through more tax cuts and try to privatize social security,
> ignoring a chorus of economic thinkers who caution against such
> measures.
>
> "If you go back and you look at the sources of the blow-up of
> Argentine debt during the 1990s, one little-appreciated thing is that
> social security privatization was a important source of that expansion
> of debt," said Krugman.
>
> In 2001, Argentina finally defaulted on an estimated $100 billion in
> debt, the largest such event in modern economic history.
>
> BANANA REPUBLIC?
>
> "So if you ask the question do we look like Argentina, the answer is a
> whole lot more than anyone is quite willing to admit at this point.
> We've become a banana republic."
>
> Crisis might take many forms, he said, but one key concern is the
> prospect that Asian central banks may lose their appetite for U.S.
> government debt, which has so far allowed the United States to finance
> its twin deficits.
>
> A deeper plunge in the already battered U.S. dollar is another
> possible route to crisis, the professor said.
>
> The absence of any mention of currencies in a communique from the
> Group of 20 rich and emerging market countries this past weekend only
> reinforced investors' perception that the United States, while saying
> it promotes a strong dollar, is willing to let its currency slide
> further.
>
> "The break can come either from the Reserve Bank of China deciding it
> has enough dollars, thank you, or from private investors saying 'I'm
> going to take a speculative bet on a dollar plunge,' which then ends
> up being a self-fulfilling prophecy," Krugman opined. "Both scenarios
> are pretty unnerving."
>
> In the longer-term, Bush's version of social security reform, which
> Krugman says would relegate pensions for the elderly to the whims of
> volatile financial markets, could have wide-ranging implications for
> future generations.
>
> The only bright spot in having Bush in power for another four years,
> said Krugman, is that further economic mismanagement might trigger
> some sort of popular outcry.
>
> "I do believe at some point there is going to be a popular tidal wave
> against what has happened," concluded Krugman. "In the meantime, you
> keep banging on the drum, you keep telling the truth.
>
> "And then eventually we have the great demonstrations, which I think
> are important to let the government know that many Americans are not
> happy with what is happening," he said.

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