HEY, PAUL KRUGMAN (A SONG, A PLEA)

So what's the deal with Krugman? He came out swinging at the Obama administration and the bill that passed the House taxing bonuses given to executives of bailed-out companies. "It's not the way you should make policy," Krugman said, "it's clumsy, and it will punish some innocent parties while letting the most guilty off scot-free."

Krugman added, "But -- there wasn't much alternative at this point. And for that I blame the Obama people." He goes on to call the Obama administration's handling of the American International Group scandal "bad analysis, bad policy, and terrible politics" that makes it seem as if the White House is "owned by the wheeler-dealers."

So...what's the deal with Krugman? I guess he's entitled to his opinion. So is this internet songsmith, who believes Paul should be part of the process. To paraphrase LBJ, "I'd rather have him inside the tent pissing outward than the other way around."

PAUL KRUGMAN WINS NOBEL PRIZE

In case you haven't heard, Paul Krugman, economist, columnist, and professor at Princeton, was awarded the Nobel Prize for Economics. For the non-econ layperson, Krugman is probably best known for his twice-weekly New York Times column in which he discusses trade theory and has been a constant critic of the George W. Bush administration's foreign and domestic policies.

Undoubtedly, Bush would've been happier if the Swedes had awarded a postumous prize to Milton Friedman, patron saint of the neo-cons and grand guru of the movement for unfettered capitalism. Friedman, to whom even a state-run educational system reeked of socialism, died in 2006 and now resides in the ninth circle of hell where everyone pays handsomely for ice water.

Krugman, on the other hand, is a liberal and progressive, though not in any narrow sense. Knowing very little about economics, we will believe the Nobel Committee when they tell us the good professor has "integrated the previously disparate research fields of international trade and economic geography." As the economy continues its dizzying tailspin and people make uneasy jokes about living in a bleak, Cormac McCarthy future world foraging for food with sharp sticks, this is somehow reassuring.

Krugman on the Bill Maher Show, on the current crisis: