Krugman Quick to Remind Us He was an Early Anti-Bushist

I’ve been focused on economic policy lately, so I sort of missed the big push to rehabilitate Bush’s image; also, as a premature anti-Bushist who pointed out how terrible a president he was back when everyone else was praising him as a Great Leader, I’m kind of worn out on the subject. … But it does need to be said: he was a terrible president, arguably the worst ever, and not just for the reasons many others are pointing out.

— Paul Krugman, writing in the New York Times.

Verbatim

What House Republicans propose is that the government simply push the problem of rising health care costs on to seniors; that is, that we replace Medicare with vouchers that can be applied to private insurance, and that we count on seniors and insurance companies to work it out somehow.

Paul Krugman, Nobel-prize winning economist, New York Times columnist, and loyal opposition leader

Verbatim

…one of our two great political parties has made it clear that it has no interest in making America governable, unless it’s doing the governing. And that party now controls one house of Congress, which means that the country will not, in fact, be governable without that party’s cooperation — cooperation that won’t be forthcoming. Elite opinion has been slow to recognize this reality…Ben Bernanke, the Federal Reserve chairman…asked for “a fiscal program that combines near-term measures to enhance growth with strong, confidence-inducing steps to reduce longer-term structural deficits.” My immediate thought was, why not ask for a pony, too?

— Paul Krugman, Nobel prize winning economist and New York Times columnist