Krugman v. Sorkin

Fun's fun, but we have to go with Krugman here - not even Sweden nationalized all of its banks.

Oh, well - let me go back to a darker day when I grasped the extent of Krugman's nationalizing schemes but thought his notion was absurd:

Nationalizing one bank will freeze private equity investment in many others while people await developments.  But setting that aside, what is the precedent?  Krugman is taking his inspiration from the successful nationalization of some Swedish banks in the 90's.  For heaven's sake - two banks no one ever heard of on the periphery of international finance were successfully nationalized by the Swedes, so therefore the US government can manage two (or more!) of the largest, most complicated, most interwoven institutions in global finance.

My simple test for advocates of nationalization - name the Swedish banks that were nationalized.  And good luck; most people will have a better chance naming the members of ABBA.  (You might find the names here, here, or here or in two efforts by the Cleveland Fed.)

I still can't pass that test.

WAVE IN THE REF: Times Public Editor Clark Hoyt makes the call for Krugman but gives us this insight into Krugman's character:

Krugman and Sorkin told me that they talked Thursday. Sorkin said the conversation was “very cordial.” Krugman called it “not much fun.” They agreed that they disagree on the definition of nationalization.

Well, Krugman isn't having fun unless he is denouncing someone.

Comments

[Clarice]

When I can' t pass a test I peek at DoT and Rick's papers, TM. You might try that.

[Thomas Collins]

TM, this is a family blog. Blue on blue is raunchy enough, but since this is a NY Times intramural dispute, it is blue on blue on grey lady. Have you no shame? :-))

[Tom Maguire]

it is blue on blue on grey lady.

Ewww...

However, with their upgraded print capability they are now the old colored lady.

OK, still "ewwwww".

[daddy]

Screw Krugman and Sorkin,

The Iceland Volcano just exploded just exploded. Yippee!

Charles De Gaulle Airport is closed and I don't have to go to work tonight. The other boys are downstairs in the Lobby 'woo-hooing' happy as clams, because this means another night in Paris instead of going to work. They just called me and disturbed my crew rest and told me they're heading to our new haunt in Bercy, Paris (La Cartouche), and if I don't get there ASAP they'll say bad stuff about me.

This may turn out to be as good as SARS. That was absolutely wonderful for AirCrews because when you had to deadhead on Cathey or Singapore etc during that mess, everybody was afraid to fly so we would be the only guys on the aircraft deadheading Hong Kong to wherever, and service was excellent. Instead of bthe usual routine of being jammed in back into these tiny Coach Class seats with elbowy Chinese guys hawking and coughing and loudly throat clearing like elephants next to you, we were all during that infection whisked up to empty First Class seats and treated like Royalty---"More cavier and Champagne Sir?" "Yes mamm, Singapore girl, keep it coming---my, you look lovely:)

Plus Hotel accommodations were all moved up to the empty Executive Suites. I mean seriously, the Black Plague of 1350 must have been terrible and all, but Hotel Reservation wise it must have been a dream.

Anyhow, will keep you advised of the inseriousness of the situation over here. BTW, sorry all your efforts back there Tea Party wise have come to naught. Otherwise I suspect I would have seen it on CNN INternational all day, but no, just the volcano and Chinese Earthquakes, and pix of Jane making out with Senator Brown, so I guess the rally in DC must have been a bust. Anyhow, thanks for trying, and if anything pops up about it on CNN International I'll let you know.

Vin Rouge (Red Wine)
Un Autre, Sil Vous Plait (another please)
Ou est la Bibliotheque (where is the toilet)

See, I paid attention back in French class. 6 years of French, never got better than a C, and never got past French 2. Another proud anglophile.

[PD]

Are we talking here about Paul Krugman, former Enron advisor?

[daddy]

Amazing,

The CNN chick just opened her question to the Vulcanologist with the following question.

"These things don't just happen overnight..."

[Thomas Collins]

Daddy, I know one has to be a Northwestern student to figure out the point of the cartoon in the LUN, but I figure you'll get a chuckle out of the fact that the Deadhorser is as snarky as ever (she is now an editorial cartoonist for The Daily Northwestern).

[peter]

Daddy, I don't think bibliotheque means bathroom. Check twice before you oui oui.

[Jack is Back!]

daddy,

Reminds of the most important two words in French, "ballon rouge". Or to be polite you can add sil vous plait at the end.

My grandfather, an emigre Englishman of high order, told me that "please and thank you, will take you around the world", and he was right.

On topic, though, I was thinking why not nationalize the New York Times and the rest of the MSM, when it occurred to me that would be a redundant exercise. And I don't care if TM thinks Krugman is right because I dont' think he has ever been right on any issue. He will the guy they blame for taking economics out of science and making it art.

[Melinda Romanoff]

daddy-

"salle de bain" is bathroom, but "toillette" is just as good. And duck in the Ladies room, when clear, if you don't like Turkish style.

And don't forget the Musee Nissim de Camondo.

[Melinda Romanoff]

TC-

Just blew through Evanston on the train. FYI.

[Captain Hate]

See, I paid attention back in French class. 6 years of French, never got better than a C, and never got past French 2.

Damn daddy, you should've absoarbed enough through osmosis to be able to get around in Paris. I was a crummy student and got commended for my ability to converse years later.

[matt]

just got back from the Irvine Tea Party. Irvine, fer chrissake.....home of the Radical Muslim Student Brotherhood....@ 500-600 middle class participants, no misspelled signs, orderly, concerned crowd.LUN.

[hit and run]

Awesome,matt! Thanks for sharing that.

Wonderfully written,too.

Good to see Glenn pick it up too!

[Ann says Obama Sucks!]

Wonderfully written,too.

Hit, I so agree. Matt's got talent! Don't you think he should send that to Charlie.

Someone needs to report on all the good news from the well behaved, patriotic, Tea Parties today.

[daddy]

Yippee!

Just back from La Cartouche and found another note under the hotel door and see we've been delayed another 12-20 hours. Its 2 am here, so am off to La Bastille area maintenant! My family is full of goofy Intellectual women who never worked a day in their lives and who always considered French a necessary prerequisite of breeding/intellectual growth etc. so I had to slog through that inane drudgery forever; Junior Hi, High School, then College. Ughh!

TC, The angrier our Deadhorser gets, the better. I am all into righteous, irreverent indignation and the more our gal gets into that sort of stuff which is honestly deserved, my heart soars like a Frisbee. Say "Hey" please to our girl---and don't let her get within a thousand miles of my buddies in France unless I'm chaperone.

1664 is a decent draft, buy I much prefer the Belgians.

If you care, since I'm heading Eastbound to Delhi, I'll be the first launched since that side of the planet is volcano dust free. The boys downstairs tagged to head back westbound over the pond are already razzing me about that, since they have to wait for the Atlantic skies to clear. Dirty rascals they are, the bunch of them., and not a single one of the morons even knows how to ask what the time is "Quelle temp f'ait tille." I remain surrounded by idiots.

[matt]

thank you all. Venceremos!

[hit and run]

Just finished filing my taxes.

What an interesting financial year 2009 was.

[matt]

don't drink the water, daddy. When we send engineers there, the internal coconut telegraph word is to bring power bars and beef jerky.

[Thomas Collins]

Mel, I'll let my youngest know that a JOMer commutes through Purple Wildcat land. Daddy, are your French buddies more wild than the Ice Road Truckers the Deadhorser hitched rides with last summer? :-))

[Melinda Romanoff]

daddy-

Let your westbound confederates know that the last time that particular volcano cooked off, it lasted a year. Good news though, it's not the big "throat-clearer" of the island.

[Jim Miller]

According to Newsbusters, CNN's Rick Sanchez was surprised by the Iceland volcano, because he thinks it's too cold there for volcanoes.

It's good to know that we get our news from such knowledgeable folks.

[Melinda Romanoff]

TC-

When the spouse and I were first married, we lived right by Evanston Hospital.

If your youngest needs anything, just holler. I'm a 40 minute drive away.

[peter]

I would like to personally thank the volcanoes of Iceland for not having exploded while I was flying to Italy, via Belgium, this past February on vacation with my family

[matt]

do the Icelanders get brain clouds and have to sacrifice unwitting American nincompoops? maybe we can get Hanks to do it....the Waponis are restless....gunga galunga.....

[Ny]

The skies are silent. Luciferians taking trips might say it's a good time to say they're sold. See, you have to HELP US OR DIE. It's really not them, it's these poor charity people............

[Stephanie says Obama sux]

Should have had an arrow pointing to where she expects us to kiss...

LUN

[Stephanie says Obama sux]

Palin seriously contemplating a Palin/Romney ticket?

Last night, as Palin stopped for cannoli at Mike’s Pastry in the North End, she said she was “serious” about the idea.

“I have a lot of respect for Mitt,” she told the Herald.

Asked who would be on top of the ticket, Palin roared, “Ha! I haven’t even thought that far ahead yet.”

Indeed, Palin said she hasn’t decided whether she’ll run in 2012 - with or without Romney.

LUN

[But they are going to have to talk to each other.]

I think Palin/Romney is a strong ticket. It's the CEO/COO model of Bush/Cheney.
==============

[nathan hale]

I prefer Palin/Gregg, the Romney faction are ,the compromisers

[Janet]

I'm thinking a Andrew Breitbart/Michele Bachmann ticket.

[Clarice]

Stephanie, I'm glad 'm not that stripe.

[Danube of Thought]

Minus 12 at Raz.

[Captain Hate]

According to Newsbusters, CNN's Rick Sanchez was surprised by the Iceland volcano, because he thinks it's too cold there for volcanoes.

What an idiot; anybody that knows enough to stop his car when it comes into contact with a human being would realize that Iceland is rife with geothermal activity and was doubtlessly formed by a volcano (I realize that requires him not to share the thought that islands float on the water but Dirty Sanchez and his journo ilk should start to be held to some reasonable standard of knowledge of how things work in the world).

[nathan hale]

Mark Steyn in his weekly wrapup with one of your favorites Captn:

MS: Well, you know, David Cameron has kind of remade the party in his image. And he is, I think, an almost irredeemably shallow man. He does not seem, to me, to have any roots in particular, in any particular political philosophy. He seems to be, his background is in kind of public relations marketing, and he seems to live up to all the clichés people have, of people whose only professional experience is in that world. But I would, I think the issue here is whether Gordon Brown has done enough to lose the election for Labour, because if the Conservatives can’t win in these conditions, and they, and even if they only win a minority government in a hung parliament, I man, that’s an appalling reflection, I think, on this so-called charismatic leader. Don’t forget, a lot of my conservative friends over here like David Frum, think that Republicans need to be more like David Cameron. If David Cameron cannot win convincingly in this situation, there’s certainly no reason for Republicans to emulate him.

[Captain Hate]

Thanks nh; if fans of Frumsie like Cameron, he must be a complete failure.

[My father used to say that all argument was a matter of definition.]

Clark Hoyt today actually sheds a little light on Sorkin vs Krugman.
==========================

[I think Krugman is being disingenuous. We know he is a hack propagandist.]

er, I see Tom was already on to Hoyt.
=====================

[Thomas Collins]

Looks as if Nemazee needed a little too much walking around money. See LUN (via Instapundit).

[Melinda Romanoff]

TC-

Not as much "walking-around-money" as Goldman Sachs is going to need to keep walking around. There stock is down $25 right now.

[Melinda Romanoff]

And this is how you push a reform agenda in Chicago.

[jorod]

Too big to fail was invented by...the regulators..!!!

[PD]

According to Newsbusters, CNN's Rick Sanchez was surprised by the Iceland volcano, because he thinks it's too cold there for volcanoes.

Pimping to get on Jeopardy, is he?