Shock: Krugman Turns on 'Elites'

Well, what I've been hearing with growing frequency from members of the policy elite – self-appointed wise men, officials, and pundits in good standing – is the claim that it's mostly the public's fault. The idea is that we got into this mess because voters wanted something for nothing, and weak-minded politicians catered to the electorate's foolishness. So this seems like a good time to point out that this blame-the-public view isn't just self-serving, it's dead wrong. The fact is that what we're experiencing right now is a top-down disaster. The policies that got us into this mess weren't responses to public demand. They were, with few exceptions, policies championed by small groups of influential people – in many cases, the same people now lecturing the rest of us on the need to get serious. And by trying to shift the blame to the general populace, elites are ducking some much-needed reflection on their own catastrophic mistakes. – New York Times/Paul Krugman

Dominant Social Theme: We have to level blame where it belongs, just not too much.

Free-Market Analysis: This is a fairly remarkable article that uber-liberal New York Times media star Paul Krugman (left) has written. Imagine even a few years ago that an article by one of the Times' most prestigious analysts would frankly castigate America's ruling class and one begins to get a sense of the growing panic that must be circulating at the top of the proverbial heap. Krugman, who evidently and obviously rubs shoulders with these people, tells us that fingers are starting to be pointed – not at others in the US ruling class but at the larger civilian population. He wants to make clear he disapproves.