Jimmy's weblog

A week back in Australia has been enough time to catch up on politics, particularly the US variety. After taking the country to war over a “crisis” involving weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, Bush now is moving on to the “crisis” of social security reform.

Expect a similar full court press campaign from the usual suspects - House and Senate Republicans, paid right-wing mouthpieces and Bush himself. Of course there is no real crisis, just like there were no weapons of mass destruction.

Paul Krugman, a professor of economics at Princeton University talks to Rolling Stone Magazine and sums it up nicely, while managing to be humorous at the same time.

[ERIC BATES]: In selling the idea that there’s a crisis, Bush has a lot of powerful words on his side: “choice,” “freedom,” “ownership society.” What words do you have to counter his sales job?

[PAUL KRUGMAN]: Scam. Three-card monte. I’ve been thinking a lot about flying pigs. The privateers are claiming that you can have something for nothing. They’re basically saying, “Let’s assume that pigs can fly.” And when you say, “You know, it’s not good to assume that pigs can fly,” they respond by saying, “What’s wrong with you? Don’t you understand the enormous advantage of flying pigs?”