Posted 8:06 PM

MOVING DAY!

After almost 2 years with Blogger, I'm moving to a new Movable Type blog. (Why all this restless jumping from place to place? It must be the gypsy in my soul...)

So now I'm not here anymore, I'm here. Write it on your hand and don't wash until you've memorized it.

The new pad is still a bit too clean and orderly, but I'm busy hanging my psychedelic posters on the walls, and strewing empty pizza boxes around...

Many thanks to Dean Esmay, who went down below with the Morlocks and did the complicated technical stuff to get the new machine going!

I wanted to start off with something profound, but I've been working very hard lately, and have nothing in my mind unrelated to sawdust. And these are the dog days of summer, and George W told me he's not going to start the next war until September, when people are back from vacation.

BUT, I have something better. Something no other blog in the whole world can boast of! Something new, something gee-whiz! So hurry over and take a look. And update those bookmarks...

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Posted 7:32 PM



KRUGMAN TRUTH SQUAD
#112: Where has he been the last 50 years?



For a guy who makes his living spinning economic data for partisan advantage,Everything Is Political (08/05/03) by Paul Krugman is the height of chutzpah. His alleged point is that the Treasury Department no longer gives politically unbiased assessments of the economy. NO LONGER? Where has he been the last 50 years? Has he never heard of Engine Charlie Wilson or George Schultz or Don Regan or Nicholas Brady or James Baker or Robert Rubin or Larry Summers? Does he think "Rubinomics" was named after Robert's dog? ALL Treasury secretaries push the President's case. That's their job. That's why Paul O'Neill is no longer in office and John Snow took his place. And if Tim Russert befuddles Howard Dean on Meet the Press by uncritically citing Treasury Department estimates that's too bad for Russert and Dean.

Anyway, what's wrong with administration departments taking positions on complex policy issues? Krugman certainly does. In his ideal world there would be no Republican Treasury secretaries, only the rich would pay taxes and they would never get a tax cut. So anyone taking a position contrary to that is not being objective. Is that what he is saying?

This is one of Krugman's more absurb columns.

[The Truth Squad is a group of economists who have long marveled at the writings of Paul Krugman. The Squad Reports are synopses of their discussions. ]

Posted 7:25 AM

The Founders understood that democracy was important, but if you didn't filter it through a republican system you'd be just as likely to end up with a tyranny of the majority as you would with a healthy society. Don't worry, I won't quote the Federalist Papers, but trust me, it's in there...

--Jonah Goldberg