[kj] OT: Nobel prize-winning economist Paul Krugman onthe economic crisis

[Brendan]

"Armey had begun his remarks by noting that his rule in life was “never
trust anyone from Austin or Boston,”

FFS...steers and queers...which one are you boy?!

And the tea bagging leader is called Dick Armey? Holy shit, I'd forgotten
that.

Hey Olly check out the Texas reference in this, one of my favourites:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q8gp9RcToi8




> Brendan, you would probably like this. James K. Galbraith debating

> tea-bagger leader Dick Armey, just came out today (May 1, 2009):

>

>

> Causes of the Crisis

> James K. Galbraith | May 01, 2009 | Commentary

>

> Editor’s note: These remarks were delivered to a meeting of the Texas

> Lyceum in Austin on April 3, at a debate between University of Texas

> professor James Galbraith, an Observer contributing writer, and former

> Majority Leader Richard Armey, chief instigator of the recent Astroturf

> “tea party" protests. Armey had begun his remarks by noting that his

> rule in life was “never trust anyone from Austin or Boston,” and

> proceeded to declare his allegiance to the “Austrian School” of

> economics, a libertarian view that regards public intervention in

> private markets as socialism.

>

> GALBRAITH:

>

> It is of course a pleasure to be with you today. I was born in Boston,

> and I am proud of it. And I have lived 24 years in Austin—and I’m proud

> of that.

>

> Leader Armey spoke to you of his admiration for Austrian economics. I

> can’t resist telling you that when the Vienna Economics Institute

> celebrated its centennial, many years ago, they invited, as their

> keynote speaker, my father [John Kenneth Galbraith]. The leading

> economists of the Austrian school—including von Hayek and von

> Haberler—returned for the occasion. And so my father took a moment to

> reflect on the economic triumphs of the Austrian Republic since the war,

> which, he said, “would not have been possible without the contribution

> of these men.” They nodded—briefly—until it dawned on them what he

> meant. They’d all left the country in the 1930s.

>

> My own economics is American: genus Institutionalist; species:

> Galbraithian.

>

> This is a panel on the crisis. Mr. Moderator, you ask what is the root

> cause? My reply is in three parts.

>

> First, an idea. The idea that capitalism, for all its considerable

> virtues, is inherently self-stabilizing, that government and private

> business are adversaries rather than partners; the idea that freedom

> without responsibility is a viable business principle; the idea that

> regulation, in financial matters especially, can be dispensed with. We

> tried it, and we see the result.

>

> Second, a person. It would not be right to blame any single person for

> these events, but if I had to choose one to name it would be a Texan,

> our own distinguished former Senator Phil Gramm. I’d cite specifically

> the repeal of the Glass-Steagall Act—the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act—in 1999,

> after which it took less than a decade to reproduce all the pathologies

> that Glass-Steagall had been enacted to deal with in 1933.

>

> [...]

>

> Rest at: http://www.texasobserver.org/article.php?aid=3031

>

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