söndag 16 december 2007

Paul Krugman on the infallible Greenspan...

photo on Paul Krugman.

Paul Krugman on the infallible [ofelbara eller osvikliga in Swedish] Greenspan (my italics below):

"I once described Alan Greenspan as being like a man who suggests leaving the barn door ajar, and then - after the horse is gone - delivers a lecture on the importance of keeping your animals properly locked up.

I was talking about Greenspan’s support for the Bush tax cuts, followed by his lectures on fiscal responsibility [the linked text says a lot!!?? Things are done for our own good even if it feels hard, or even very hard! And here an American's view on G. W. Bush *].

But it also applies to what he’s saying now about the subprime crisis.

All that wisdom about an 'accident waiting to happen' — an accident for which he, of course, bears no responsibility [no, of course not!! He is granted discharge, beviljad ansvarsfrihet in Swedish].

Remember, this is the guy who brushed off Edward Gramlich when he warned about subprime problems; who 'frequently argued there could be no housing bubble.'

The chutzpah is breathtaking."

Some commentators on this:

”It’s interesting how Greenspan, whenever a crisis occurs, always sees fit to enlighten us with his genius. And always, his opinions are designed not to address the crisis at hand but to take himself off the hook. Why is this man so revered [vördad, sedd upp till in Swedish]?”

”You expected anything less from a disciple of Ayn Rand? Paul Volcker must want to ring Greenspan’s neck.”

“One of the problems of Randism is that, since it is elitist, how the elite is supposed to deal with the hoi polloi [betyder detta ungefär pöbeln? Eller motsvarigheten till plebejer, "plebs" eller "Ochlocracy". Vars motsats var/är patricier eller oligarker.]. I expect that Greenspan, like many ‘superior’ men and women, feels it is perfectly reasonable to lie to get other people to do what he wants.

“Greenspan is simply a highly-paid shill for the Wall Street banking/financial sector, much as Robert Rubin also was/is. His mostly ad hoc ‘pronouncements’ are ever self-aggrandizing [självförstorande/-upphöjande/-överdrivande] and/or self-serving. Although he likes to appear thoughtful and sober-minded, his ‘wisdom’ is mostly of the esoteric, wishful-thinking [önsketänkande], dream-content variety, with little connection to the real world most of us inhabit…one of the things I like about Krugman is that his analyses appear to bear some reasonable relationship to the REAL economy, not some ‘objectivist’ pipe-dream.”

“Alan Greenspan is a master of obfuscation and deceit [förmörkande/omtöckning och bedrägeri/svek]. Witness, for instance, his convoluted explanations in recent interviews for his statement that the Iraq war is about oil, as published in his book ‘The age of turbulence.’

"The Spanish saying ‘Tratar de quedar bien con Dios y el diablo’ (to try to be in good terms with both God and the devil) fits him to perfection…”
* Reacting at safe targets and/or symbols as kicking animals, as this small boy did… Because I don't believe any child is born with this "nature"... Later as grown up reacting at scapegoats (Miller reflects on Hitler and if he had had children: would e have been such a perpetrator then? But Stalin became despite he had children to act out against), which can give temporary relief, till the need comes back again.

Feelings that got suppressed gets triggered in the present, in all of us… Even if we don’t go so far as to kill other people or order murders. However these things can cause considerable troubles in our daily life, in reacting at things from past events so to say…

You have to act the frustration and feelings out somewhere where it is relatively safe and there we have different options (some not so many options). Or act it out on yourself, for instance by blaming yourself for being so lousy (or by self-harm in different manners, even severe)… And maybe you switch to other ways of dealing with these suppressed things. This can be really dangerous the more power a person with a lot of needs for revenge gets??

On a walk now I also came to think of power-abuse… Showed by a moderator on a closed forum… And also on mania in people with power (saw one of our ministers yesterday evening on TV and drops my mouth over the extreme gladness many in our current government shows, over all the opportunities they have now, they feel and think, to change this society completely? Saving s all!?). The need for power…

In fact I am in a hurry (as so often, a deep sigh), am going to work this afternoon: a big concert here, where 8 small pupils (mine) 6 to 9 years old are going to entertain during a café in the pause together with a colleague on "nyckelharpa" (also see here about nyckelharpa! And see the Sahlström-insitute, I am colleague with one of the founders, Eric Sahlström, sons!) with three of his pupils. And if the concert-hall is filled there will come approximately 500 persons… Phew! I don't feel in the mood for this... Just want to cry and am afraid of breaking down in tears...

And me and a colleague are also having two pupils/students from the aesthetic-program playing when people return to the concert-hall after the pause. And I am going to play in a Concerto Grosso by Corelli which I have only played once with the orchestra. And tomorrow it’s concert again, with a lot of piano-playing for me…

My mood isn’t the best. I guess I am too tired, have stretched myself too far the last time… Eager to please, be the good girl? Be so very clever? But is it on the other hand forbidden to be clever, nice etc.? Loosing my mood, temper? Breaking down in tears?? Tired and angry...

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