Krugman on Bad Actors
• Mises InstituteIn a recent New York Times column, Paul Krugman lamented our society's lavish rewards for bad actors. No, he wasn't criticizing the original cast of Star Trek. Rather, Krugman was bemoaning the hefty earnings that accrue to financial executives. Unfortunately, Krugman's critique is riddled with irrelevant paper citations and internal contradictions. The shocking abuses in today's financial markets would end immediately, if only the government would get out of the sector entirely. Has Krugman Been Paying Attention? Krugman conveniently ignores the role played by the Federal Reserve and the federal government in these shenanigans. Whether or not he endorsed the idea, Krugman was certainly aware that the Fed could engineer a housing bubble; is he now claiming that the Fed had nothing to do with it? And yes, it is outrageous that reckless Wall Street firms have gotten hundreds of billions (and possibly trillions, if there are defaults on the loans guaranteed by the
