QUEEN’S COMMENTS ON MY FAVORITE ECONOMIST, DEAN BAKER
Well, I’ve spent this entire day writing and posting almost exclusively  put-downs of Sarah Palin, John McCain and their campaign–all true and verifiable facts, but nasty nonetheless.  This is necessary because we must match their attacks 3 to 1 to keep the propaganda under control and their BS to zero effectiveness.  It does matter what goes out into the blogosphere.  But now as it nears my bed time, I’ll make my last post a more cheerful one and on a topic that I like–economics and Dean Baker whose opinions I most often agree with.

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Dean Baker is the co-director of The Center for Economic and Policy Research (CEPR).  He is the author of “The Conservative Nanny State:  How the Wealthy Use the Government to Stay Rich and Get Richer”   www.conservativenannystate.org .  He also has a blog,  ”Beat the Press” , on American Prospect where he discusses the media coverage of economic issues.

NOTE:  IF YOU GO TO DEAN’S CONSERVATIVE NANNY SITE YOU CAN DOWN LOAD A PDF VERSION OF HIS BOOK–worth the read and it is definitely an exception to the rule that “nothing is free”  –as long as you don’t print it out and waste paper.

Here is the link to Dean’s blog:  http://www.prospect.org/csnc/blogs/beat_the_press

Now about that article which I just read in Truthout:
http://www.truthout.org/100608B

Wall Street Follows the Path of the Steel Industry
In this very fascinating article Baker compares the current direction of Wall Street and the financial industry to what happened to the steel industry in the USA–it simply has become uncompetitive in international markets.  Until bankers salaries are pushed down closer to pay scales in other financial markets, Baker believes that they will not be able to compete.  There is also the issue that Wall Street bankers have passed on so much junk in the international markets that foreign investors, like the American people, are not likely to trust them any more [might be a good time to invest in a fire proof mattress].In other words, the Wall Street Bankers may be thoroughly phaqued.

 

Here is my favorite paragraph from the post. You will have to go to TruthOut to read the rest and it is totally worth it:

“.  .  . The resources tied up in Wall Street will find better uses in other areas. Specifically, the tens of thousands of highly educated workers who made huge salaries on Wall Street may find something more productive to do with their lives than shuffling complex derivative instruments. Some might become doctors, engineers or research scientists - areas where they could make important contributions to society. . .”

HAPPY READING!
GOOD NIGHT
–the Queen