quote of the day

"A not-so-funny thing happened on the way to economic recovery.

Over the last two weeks, what should have been a deadly serious debate about how to save an economy in desperate straits turned, instead, into hackneyed political theater, with Republicans spouting all the old clichés about wasteful government spending and the wonders of tax cuts.

The American economy is on the edge of catastrophe, and much of the Republican Party is trying to push it over that edge."

– nobel prize winning economist paul krugman

UPDATE 2/8/09 – krugman takes a look at what's happened to the stimulus bill in the senate over the last day or so, and doesn't like what he sees:

"My first cut says that the changes to the Senate bill will ensure that we have at least 600,000 fewer Americans employed over the next two years.

The real question now is whether Obama will be able to come back for more once it’s clear that the plan is way inadequate. My guess is no.

This is really, really bad."