Reagan's the Problem

To paraphrase our so-called "great communicator" President, Ronald Reagan, "here I go again". And to quote the joke line from the Sopranos, "Just when I thought I was getting out, they pull me back in".

The economy is so deeply fouled up, it is hard not to write about it. Two disparate individuals, one I greatly admire and one I mostly deplore, have induced me to publish this post.

I first became aware of Paul Krugman when he did guest appearances on the Keith Olbermann show. Krugman talked like a rare two-handed economist, giving clear and straightforward answers and never hedging them with "on the other hand". When he won the Nobel for economics, that confirmed my opinion.

Ronald Reagan, so unjustifiably praised by some people, did terrible things to America. In an excellent column in the New York Times, Krugman pins the blame for our current economic woes on Reaganomics. Lincoln eloquently stated our government is "of the people, by the people and for the people". Reagan shamefully said "government is the problem". As on most things, Reagan was wrong. Government was not the problem - Reagan was.