Tuesday, July 24, 2007

A Reality-Based Economy ("reality based " with a "W"?)

New York Times: By David Brooks

If you’ve paid attention to the presidential campaign, you’ve heard the neopopulist story line. C.E.O.’s are seeing their incomes skyrocket while the middle class gets squeezed. The tides of globalization work against average Americans while most of the benefits go to the top 1 percent.

This story is not entirely wrong, but it is incredibly simple-minded....

Talk about kettles and pots...What follows is Brooks' tedious recitation of misleading and deceptive conservative talking points. Here's hoping Paul Krugman targets his Times colleague directly and forcefully in his next column.

As Brooks has forfeit some of his right wing constituency by acknowledging certain truths about the Bush-Cheney Administration, he seems to be trying to win them back with some epic water- (to be polite) carrying in a fashion more reminiscent of, say, Robert Novak. The columns are not only degraded, but boring. I wonder if these are signs of a mid-life identity crisis and/or crackup...or if he's lobbying for a top job with the coming Murdoch St. Journal.

No comments: