Paul Krugman, "Galt / Gekko 2012": The Man Who Praised Occupy Wall Street Trash Talks Paul Ryan

"Occupy Wall Street is starting to look like an important event that might even eventually be seen as a turning point.

. . . .

It’s clear what kinds of things the Occupy Wall Street demonstrators want, and it’s really the job of policy intellectuals and politicians to fill in the details."

Paul Krugman, "Confronting the Malefactors" (http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/07/opinion/krugman-confronting-the-malefactors.html), October 6, 2011

And so, less than a year ago, Krugman was singing paeans to those who would dismantle the American financial system, riot, espouse rabid anti-Semitism, and defecate freely in public parks whenever the urge came over them. Moreover, Krugman was not alone in expressing sympathy for these nihilists. During an October 6, 2011 press conference, fellow Nobel Prize winner Barack Obama also went to bat for them, seeking to explain their motives:

"What I think is that the American people understand that not everybody has been following the rules; that Wall Street is an example of that; that folks who are working hard every single day, getting up, going to the job, loyal to their companies, that used to be the essence of the American Dream. That's how you got ahead -- the old-fashioned way. And these days, a lot of folks who are doing the right thing aren't rewarded, and a lot of folks who aren't doing the right thing are rewarded."

Well, notwithstanding the fact that "policy intellectual" Krugman and "politician" Obama sought "to fill in the details" for OWS, the short-lived movement is now resting peacefully in the trash heap of American history. So much for Krugman's oracular powers.

In a New York Times "Conscience of a Liberal" blog item entitled "Galt / Gekko 2012" (http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/?8dpc), Krugman, apparently nearing an apoplectic fit, takes aim at the Republican vice presidential candidate, Paul Ryan:

"What I do know is that anyone who believes in Ryan’s carefully cultivated image as a brave, honest policy wonk has been snookered. Mark Thoma reviews selected pieces I’ve written about Ryan; he is, in fact, a big fraud, who doesn’t care at all about fiscal responsibility, and whose policy proposals are sloppy as well as dishonest. Of course, this means that he’ll fit in to the Romney campaign just fine."

Peculiar. This is the same Paul Ryan with respect to whose choice by Romney The Wall Street Journal (see: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10000872396390443537404577583323575899222.html?mod=WSJ_hps_LEFTTopStories) wrote on Saturday:

"The underlying assumption is that at this moment of declining real incomes and national self-doubt, Americans won't fall for the same old easy demagoguery. They want to hear serious ideas debated seriously. The contrast couldn't be greater with a President who won't run on his record and has offered not a single idea for a second term.

In choosing Mr. Ryan, Mr. Romney is betting that Americans know how much trouble their country is in, and that they will reward the candidate who pays them the compliment of offering solutions that match the magnitude of the problems."

So is Paul Ryan a "fraud" or a straight-thinker demanding that America confront its problems head-on?

Again, as observed by James Pethokoukis in an article in Commentary entitled "Ryan's Hope" (http://www.commentarymagazine.com/article/ryans-hope/):

"In 2008, publicly held debt as a share of GDP was 41 percent. The Congressional Budget Office’s best guess is that it will be 73 percent this year and 94 percent by 2022—with annual budget deficits averaging $1.1 trillion for the next decade. And it is in 2022 that Medicare really starts to contribute to our fiscal instability."

There is no fraud in the CBO's numbers. Moreover, these annual budget deficits are not sustainable, and although the federal government can ultimately print money in order to repay its debts, should this come to happen, there will be nothing left of social security or Medicare.

Do I agree with all that Ryan proposes? No. But I welcome an honest debate concerning the very real problems that he is addressing and for which Obama offers no solutions whatsoever.

I guess I've been snookered.