Posted 5:56 PM by Gene

Those who've followed the depr -- ECONOMY will find nothing new in Simon Johnson's article. And yet it is very much worth reading because it tells how SUPERMEN got us into the debacle, and how the same SUPERMEN probably can't get us out. He says America has an "oligarchy" (Mr. Johnson's very apt term) -- any country with Jim Bakers and CEOs will know how true that is -- and the only way really cleaning this mess is to get them out of control, and prevent new "oligarchies" from replacing them. But people clamor for a strong leader, and the bankers have strength precisely because they have the heft and can blackmail us with impunity; so much of what they've done in the crisis has that smell. We're no economist but we can't see how we can solve our deep funk without a good dose of the kind of economic ruination Andrew Mellon once gloated about -- and the bankers will find a way to pay themselves huge bonuses for that. We hope this is not so. One thing is clear: The BIG C!!!! notwithstanding, the day of financial types as clairvoyants is over.

(Via Dr. Krugman's glum column -- oddly he doesn't link to it -- via Seeking Alpha. Whoever thought he'd stop being a comedian?)