KRUGMAN: "If you aren’t outraged, you haven’t been paying attention."

Rewarding Bad Actors
By PAUL KRUGMAN
Published: August 2, 2009

Americans are angry at Wall Street, and rightly so. First the financial industry plunged us into economic crisis, then it was bailed out at taxpayer expense. And now, with the economy still deeply depressed, the industry is paying itself gigantic bonuses. If you aren’t outraged, you haven’t been paying attention.


But crashing the economy and fleecing the taxpayer aren’t Wall Street’s only sins. Even before the crisis and the bailouts, many financial-industry high-fliers made fortunes through activities that were worthless if not destructive from a social point of view.

And they’re still at it. Consider two recent news stories.

One involves the rise of high-speed trading: some institutions, including Goldman Sachs, have been using superfast computers to get the jump on other investors, buying or selling stocks a tiny fraction of a second before anyone else can react. Profits from high-frequency trading are one reason Goldman is earning record profits and likely to pay record bonuses.

more:
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/03/opinion/03krugman.html?_r=1

The Good Krugman - has common sense, a solid understanding of economics, and is attuned to good public policy

The Bad Krugman - pumps whatever garbage policy emerged from Goldman Sachs and made its way to the Treasury/Fed no matter how nonsensical the economics or how impossible it is for the proposed numbers to reflect reality.

Never know which one you'll get. Today we got The Good Krugman, let's hope he hangs around!