Krugman: Poles Apart

[ProSense]

Poles Apart

So on the third leg of his foreign tour, (Mr. Bean) Mitt Romney lavished praise on the Polish economy. It wasn’t quite as big a blooper as his praise for Israel’s single-payer-plus-price controls health care system, but it wasn’t good.

For one thing, Poland has substantially bigger government than the US; in 2007, that is, pre-crisis, the Polish government spent 42 percent of GDP, compared with 37 in the United States. And despite what Romney claimed, there was no obvious trend toward smaller government; Polish spending as a share of GDP was about the same in 2007 as it had been in 2000...and universal health care too.

<...>

So actually Poland’s success suggests that (a) big government isn’t so bad (b) sometimes its good to debase your currency.

Doesn’t anyone tell Romney to do his homework?

http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/08/01/poles-apart-2/

Edited to add:

Maybe Europe's not so bad after all?
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10021055983

[MADem]

1. I have three questions about Lech Walesa...

Is he suffering from dementia?

Didn't he say he was going to support OCCUPY before he changed his mind? http://thinkprogress.org/special/2011/10/13/343252/former-polish-president-and-solidarity-president-lech-walesa-backs-occupy-wall-street/

Does he have a problem with black people?


For the life of me I cannot understand why that guy would endorse and pose, grinning like a fool, with a One Percenter, Anti-Worker asshole like RMoney--unless he was paid off, or something.

How can a guy who said he supported Occupy/The Ninety Nine Percent/worker rights be put in a position where he appears to be kissing the ass of a One Percenter?

I hate to suspect racial prejudice...but what else, save a Big rMoney payday, makes sense??????

I would like to see someone interview old Lech, and call him to account about this anti-people, anti-worker "endorsement."

[ProSense]

2. One has to wonder. n/t

[MADem]

3. Like I said, I really hope someone asks the old bastard. What a horrible legacy for him.

Like it or not, we often remember people for the last--or the WORST--thing they did.

Ask Pierre Salinger's ghost....he even ended up having a syndrome named after him!

http://www.wordspy.com/words/PierreSalingersyndrome.asp

[hifiguy]

4. IIRC, Walesa is a very right-wing catholic.

Which would account for his foolish remarks seemingly endorsing the Mittwit.

[MADem]

5. Well, if his enthusiasm for Catholicism trumps his enthusiasm for worker rights, then that's a

good legacy ruined. He's become a caricature.

[JHB]

6. He's a CEO. He has people to do homework.

Unfortunately for them, quality control is only as good as the guy at the top makes it.

[DCKit]

7. Shit, he outsources the gay kids haircuts now, too.

Willard had gone nearly 40 years without anyone having the guts to say "No" to anything he wants.

He's not dealing well with his pResidential run. It was supposed to be a cakewalk, something he deserved to have.

Sorry Mittens, but we're fond of the dude we've got.