Friday, May 29, 2015

Paul Krugman, "The Insecure American": Is Elizabeth Warren Also Experiencing Anxiety?

Observing in his latest New York Times op-ed entitled "The Insecure American" that "A majority of Americans over 65 get more than half their income from Social Security, and more than a quarter are almost completely reliant on those monthly checks," Paul Krugman concludes:

"But while things could be worse, they could also be better. There is no such thing as perfect security, but American families could easily have much more security than they have. All it would take is for politicians and pundits to stop talking blithely about the need to cut 'entitlements' and starting looking at the way their less-fortunate fellow citizens actually live."

Politicians and pundits should stop talking "blithely"? Hey, Paul, you wouldn't happen to be talking about Hillary and Bill Clinton? Hillary's net worth in 2012 was estimated at between $5 million and $25 million, and Bill's net worth is estimated at some $55 million.

And although Krugman rails against conservatives ("I am not, or not only, talking about right-wing contempt for the poor, although the dominance of compassionless conservatism is a sight to behold") and middle-of-the-roaders ("What’s really striking is the disconnect between centrist conventional wisdom and the reality of life — and death — for much of the nation"), he makes no mention of Elizabeth Warren, who also is not suffering economic distress. According to CNNMoney:

"Warren, the Harvard bankruptcy law professor elected to the Senate in 2012, is worth between $3.7 million and $10 million.

That's not including the three-story Victorian home in Cambridge, Mass., that she owns with her husband and fellow Harvard law professor, Bruce Mann. It's now assessed at $1.9 million, according to city property records."

Less than a year ago, Warren, a would-be descendant of Native Americans, declared, "The game is rigged, and the Republicans rigged it." I agree: both  the stock exchanges and currency markets have been or are currently being manipulated. And in order to protest against this wrong, my recommendation is that Warren donate her Cambridge home to the poor and run against Hillary and the big banks in the Democratic primaries. But you know as well as I do, it's not going to happen.

[I continue to wait for answers from Andrew Rosenthal and Margaret Sullivan whether New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof was paid by the Clinton Foundation to serve as a panel moderator.]

1 comment:

  1. Good thing only the Choir now believes what they read by Krugman.

    Those of us suffering from the Democratic congress changes to Medicare, 2007-2011 are no longer scared by Democratic fear-mongering on our "insurance" because the message is clear: only the rich can now access health care in retirement.

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