Ladies and Gentlemen, I Give You Paul Krugman

For those of you not familiar with Paul Krugman, he's an op-ed contributor for the New York Times and a professor of Economics at Princeton. Oh, and did I fail to mention, one of my personal heroes.?

Typically, when he's not working on a text book, he writes two articles a week for the Times, mostly with a focus on the country's economy. Here's the key, though - he does it in plain English, so that non-business people can understand. He demystifies the numbers and lays bare their underlying truth. (And, as someone who knows these things, I can vouch that his numbers and his explanations are sound.)

In recent months and years, Paul's economic writings have become more political, I think, as a reaction to the dishonesty and dirty tricks being perpetrated by the White House. They lie and mislead; Paul straightens out fact from fiction. But, more than that, Paul helps the average Joe "follow the money." Isn't that what they always tell us to do? His honesty has won him the praise of many progressives and liberals, and the scorn and hate of many conservatives. Personally, I love him because he is a trusted voice in a dark time.

So, ladies and gentlemen, without further ado, I give you Paul Krugman!

His article this week deals with the subject of USA Next's now infamous attack ad on the AARP, which claims that the AARP's actual agenda is to promote gay marriage and to not support the troops. Krugman' s point: The right has done this before, using divisive social issues to drive support for economic policy that is detrimental to most Americans, with success. The only difference this time is that they are being so obvious about it. Of course, this doesn't mean that they won't be successful, so beware.

Also, I highly recommend "What's the Matter With Kansas" by Thomas Frank. It's a good look at what I call Angry White-man Syndrome, or AWS for short. I think it probably also goes without saying that I recommend Paul's latest book. If you're just tuning in, it will catch you up on what's been happening the last few years.

More:
Operation Truth has come out against the USA Next Ad

Daily Kos has the new USA Next ads and possibly proves they had this in mind all along.