Krugman-Herbert: Double-Dip of Doom-n-Gloom

NY Times - Krugman-Herbert/NewsBusters ^ | Mark Finkelstein

[governsleastgovernsbest]

I looked around when I heard someone crying, and there was Pollyanna bawling her eyes out. That's how depressing was the one-two punch of pessimism in Paul Krugman's and Bob Herbert's New York Times pay-to-peruse columns of today.

Just in time for the elections, the pair paint a picture of America so dreary you half-expected the Google logarithm to place Prozac ads on the page. Krugman tries to talk down the economy, while Herbert sees a more deep-seated malaise. Annotated excerpts:

Krugman: "Bursting Bubble Blues"

• "The housing boom became a bubble . . . the question now is how much pain the bursting bubble will inflict." I'm guessing Krugman's answer will be: a lot.
• "Some say the worst is already over . . . So maybe this is as bad as it gets. But I think the pessimists have a stronger case." Surprise!
• "Home sales probably still have a long way to fall."
• "You don’t want to make too much of the fact that some housing indicators have turned up; those indicators tend to bounce around a lot from month to month." Don't let some hard data stand in the way of a good jeremiad.
• "Moreover, much of the good news in the latest economic report is unsustainable at best, suspect at worst." Rove at it again.
• "So this is probably just the beginning. How bad can it get? Well, you don’t have to go far to find grim forecasts." No farther than the Times op-ed page.
• "In case you’re wondering, I don’t blame the Bush administration for the latest bad economic numbers." Wanna bet?
• "Still, the bad news will have political consequences. . . And if that hurts the G.O.P. in next week’s election, well, there’s a certain poetic justice involved." I told you so!

Herbert: "The System’s Broken"

• "If you pay close attention to the news and then go out and talk to ordinary people, it’s hard not to come away with the feeling that the system of politics and government in the U.S. is broken." No sweeping generalizations for Bob!
• "I spent the past week talking to residents in Chicago, southern Michigan and Indiana. No one was happy about the direction the country has taken." No one? Where did Bob find his folks - the unemployment line?
• ". . . an increasing sense of disenchantment and unease that ordinary Americans are feeling when it comes to national politics and government. For far too many of them, the government in Washington is remote, unresponsive and ineffective." Let me guess: solution - make government bigger!
• "Several people mentioned that their families were struggling financially at a time when the stock market had soared to all-time highs." Darn those Monopoly millionaires!
• "Nearly all said they were repelled by the relentless barrage of tasteless and idiotic campaign commercials." So why has YouTube had a gazillion hits for the Harold Ford Playboy ad?
• "Black voters, disillusioned by voter suppression efforts and a pervasive belief that their votes will not be properly counted, may not turn out in the numbers that the party was hoping for." Rove and Diebold, at it again.
• "The system is broken. Most politicians would rather sacrifice their first born than tell voters the honest truth about tough issues." Translation: raise taxes.

As I type this, it's still dark here in upstate New York. But Herbert and Krugman notwithstanding, I'm betting that in an hour or so, the sun will rise.

[governsleastgovernsbest]

NY Times doom-n-gloom ping to Today show list.

[hnj_00]

krugman - the great ny slimes economist....has been wrong on every issue since he has been at the slimes....this guy does not know shi-ite from shinola!!!!

the biggest change in the economy will come if the lib/dems are elected....bank on a drop in the stock market and on jobs creations...of course that will result in higher unemployment/lower gdp and of course his answer like all lib/dems will be to get rid of the tax cuts and raise taxes!!!

[palmer]

Black voters, disillusioned by voter suppression efforts and a pervasive belief that their votes will not be properly counted, may not turn out in the numbers that the party was hoping for."

Here in VA that means showing an ID and using a touchscreen (not sure if it is evil Diebold). Change "voter" to "fraud" and add "extra" before "votes" and your sentence would be accurate.

[Fresh Wind]

"I spent the past week talking to residents in Chicago, southern Michigan and Indiana. No one was happy about the direction the country has taken."

The problem with this question is that it is always assumed to mean that people think that electing the "other" party is the solution. They never bother to ask the obvious follow-up questions, because they might not get the answers they want.

[governsleastgovernsbest]

Great point. Things can always get worse - and surely would if the Dems actually imposed their agenda of higher taxes and more regulation.

[Siena Dreaming]

Black voters, disillusioned by voter suppression efforts and a pervasive belief that their votes will not be properly counted, may not turn out in the numbers that the party was hoping for."

In other words, there won't be as many votes from the blacks this time because the Dems aren't going to get away with the voter padding practices this time around.

[subterfuge]

Coming tomorrow: Interviews with the homeless!!

[crazyhorse691]

The NYSlimes would suddenly have two job openings if those two depressed clowns mixed guns and alcohol.

[andy58-in-nh]

One thing that you can count on (along with the eventual rising of the sun) is that when the Democrats once again control Congress and the White House, the economy (as reported in the media) will undergo an almost overnight transformation. Miraculously, the economy will be found to be in fine shape, and getting better all the time.

Remember the Clinton Years? Yes, unfortunately, so do I. But one of the things I recall was how the polarity of most economic reporting flipped upon George Bush's ascendancy. What was good or acceptable under Clinton became bad or worse under Bush. I strongly suspect the reverse will occur in '08 should the Dems prevail.

[Fresh Wind]

They didn't even wait until Bush took office. During the 2000 campaign, the Dems and the sycophant MSM were beating on Bush for "talking down the economy". In all probability, they knew the country was heading into recession, and they wanted to make sure Bush took the blame (whether he won or not).

[billhilly]

The Dems will have some doing the voting that Americans will not do.

[andy58-in-nh]

During the 2000 campaign, the Dems and the sycophant MSM were beating on Bush for "talking down the economy".

True. And yet today, the Democrats do almost nothing but "talk down the economy" - this time to the accompaniment of a cheerleading MSM that has abandoned even the pretext of objectivity.