Paul Krugman for Treasury Secretary

huffingtonpost.com — That headline has all the D.C. insider types rolling their eyes right now, since they know it is absurd to imagine that President Obama would pick Krugman to be Timothy Geithner's replacement as Treasury Secretary. They aren't wrong, it is absurd. This fact tells us a great deal about what is wrong with the shape of the economic policy being debated in the nation's capital. First of all, let's get the obvious out of the way. No one can question Krugman's qualifications. He is a winner of both the John Bates Clark award and the Nobel Prize. Arguing that he lacks the background is just silly. The major reason that Krugman is not on anyone's short list is that he has been right about most of the important issues in economic policy over the last decade. The list where Krugman has been right and the Washington insiders have been wrong is a long one.

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