On Sat, 29 Nov 2008, Shane Taylor wrote:
> Couldn't Summers turn be the elite equivalent of scrambling to the front
> of a protest and shouting "March!"?
I think this might also be a classic illustration of William James description of what happens to a new theory (in this case, the theory that deregulation was a dangerous, unjust crock):
<quote>
First, you know, a new theory is attacked as absurd; then it is admitted to be true, but obvious and insignificant; finally it is seen to be so important that its adversaries claim that they themselves discovered it.
<unquote>
Perhaps that's exactly what we have here: regulation's biggest adversary acting like he discovered it.
I suspect he's also seriously ass-chafed that Stiglitz and Krugman got nobels before he did. That's his peer group. (And two of his uncles got the prize too. I think he's always thought it was his due.) And I think he agrees with those who say that a large part of why Krugman got it (and didn't have to share it) was to pay tribute to his public advocacy of government market reforms.
So maybe he suddenly wants to be a liberal hero too.
Michael