Paul and Me
Paul Krugman is on the right. That's me on the left. --Well, my blurry left arm on the left, as I'm moving out of the frame.
But - really - it's really me. With The Krug. Well, next to the Paulster, anyway, just after he signed my freshly purchased copy of The Conscience of a Liberal.
Karrie valiantly tried to capture the moment with my super-crappy Treo 650 built-in camera. -With people waiting and calendar-reminders flashing/interrupting, you see the results above...
May God Bless You, Karrie, for the effort.
Pauly spoke at Seattle's Town Hall last night to a packed crowd, wasting no time illuminating our slow descent into 'movement conservative' hell during the last 50-odd years -- a modern U.S. phenomenon (not shared by any other advanced westernized country in the 20th century), wherein this country's disparity of wealth has effectively returned us to the Gilded Age of the 1890s. This extreme wealth polarization paved the way to the Great Depression, from which only the likes of FDR could rescue us, save western-style democracy (and U.S-style capitalism from its own excesses), and point us on a path to a true majority middle class society that carried us through the 1960s.
Mr. K's book investigates how this subsequent backward slide into rising poverty rates, massive federal debt, and rapidly ballooning incomes of the top fraction of 1% of the population could have happened -- and how we can put ourselves back on the right (uh, left...progressive!) track: Certified Robber-Baron Free®.
I very much look forward to reading it.
Krugmaster P claims to be in good spirits after researching and writing this book. He said himself he hasn't been this optimistic in years about the political future of this country, and how close we are to being truly able to correct many of the ills brought on us all in the last 7 years.
...And with Paul by my side -- even if only figuratively -- I hope to reclaim my optimism, too.
P.S. - Check out Paul Krugman's new blog! I guess if he can start blogging, then there's no better time for me to (re-)start...
posted by non_seq at 12:48 PM
5 Comments:
Did he write something inspiring in your book or was it like "Stay cool, Paul"?
Hey there, hooleintelligence - Paul kept it pretty succinct, but also very real: He asked me to "keep the faith". Or maybe it was more of a command.
Either way, I will.
I can verify that he WAS there with Paul, because I witnessed the whole episode.
Great speech. Krugman is a real mensch, and if he can find reason for optimism, that is definitely a sign that things are turning around.
What can I say, I tried. Actually, I heard a photog-blogger dogwhistle which told me that a shot gone wonky is bloggable, whereas a shot gone right is merely a shot gone right. So - it was a secret ploy to get you behind the keyboard, and it worked! (or maybe it wa that damn calendar reminder) ANYhow, what a great man, that Krugmeister. Now, who's gonna make the bumpersticker: "It is possible to raise the GDP without driving an Urban Assault Vehicle"
Did he say it like, "Keep the faith or else!" while shaking his fist menacingly at you? If so, that was indeed a command.
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