Paul Krugman: Rule by Rentiers

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What lies behind this trans-Atlantic policy paralysis? I� �� m increasingly convinced that it� �� s a response to interest-group pressure. Consciously or not, policy makers are catering almost exclusively to the interests of rentiers � ��" those who derive lots of income from assets, who lent large sums of money in the past, often unwisely, but are now being protected from loss at everyone else� �� s expense.

Of course, that� �� s not the way what I call the Pain Caucus makes its case. Instead, the argument against helping the unemployed is framed in terms of economic risks: Do anything to create jobs and interest rates will soar, runaway inflation will break out, and so on. But these risks keep not materializing. Interest rates remain near historic lows, while inflation outside the price of oil � ��" which is determined by world markets and events, not U.S. policy � ��" remains low.

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Joan Brunwasser is a co-founder of Citizens for Election Reform (CER) which since 2005 existed for the sole purpose of raising the public awareness of the critical need for election reform. Our goal: to restore fair, accurate, transparent, secure elections where votes are cast in private and counted in public. Because the problems with electronic (computerized) voting systems include a lack of (more...)