Consulting by RPM || Free Advice Blog

Krugman Lets the Cat Out of the Bag?

Remember in 1984 that there was one Party enthusiast who was so dogmatic and zealous for Big Brother that they had to take him out? I wonder if that’s Paul Krugman. He is almost charmingly transparent in his advocacy of bigger government.

For example, check out this blog post on financial regulation, with the revealing title, “Thank You, Lloyd Blankfein”:

FinReg: what do I think? I think Ed Andrews has it right: not all it should have been, but better than seemed likely not long ago, thanks to a changed climate. Wall Street in general, and Goldman in particular, provided scandals at just the right time. Thank you, Lloyd Blankfein.

Hmm, are you thinking what I’m thinking? Six months ago, Goldman Sachs was the quintessentially connected insider firm, with incredibly close ties to the Obama administration and in fact the entire world financial and regulatory structure.

And then, the incredibly klutzy head of Goldman Sachs decides to urinate it all away, in a series of absurdly ill-considered moves. The Obama administration suddenly becomes distant from the firm which three weeks earlier had presumably owned the administration. Oh, and a good thing too, because Goldman’s uncharacteristically boneheaded moves give the Obama administration a perfect excuse to grab more power.

I realize that a good conspiracy theory is non-falsifiable: If Goldman is on top, it’s evidence that the game is rigged. And then if Goldman is apparently on the outs, it’s also evidence that the game is rigged.

But I want to see Goldman actually go down in flames, and the Obama administration use its new powers to promote a Goldman rival, before I believe the firm was actually thrown under the bus.