Why Is the Financial Crisis So Absent From the Campaign?

Why Is the Financial Crisis So Absent From the Campaign?

Why Is the Financial Crisis So Absent From the Campaign?

That’s what Paul Krugman rightly wants to know. For months I’ve been struck by the jarring disconnect between the finance blogs I read, where people are basically screaming at the top of their lungs that the sky is falling, and the campaign blogs, where the financial crisis hardly makes an appearance. I think there are three (non mutually exclusive) reasons. One, which Krugman mentions, is that the crisis is deeply bewildering and the optimal policy is incredibly unclear. Two, there’s probably some legitimate concern about the negative effect of a presidential candidate pointing out that the sky is in fact falling. Three, the candidates are largely funded by Wall St. and don’t want to bring up the dreaded R word, regulation.

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That’s what Paul Krugman rightly wants to know. For months I’ve been struck by the jarring disconnect between the finance blogs I read, where people are basically screaming at the top of their lungs that the sky is falling, and the campaign blogs, where the financial crisis hardly makes an appearance. I think there are three (non mutually exclusive) reasons. One, which Krugman mentions, is that the crisis is deeply bewildering and the optimal policy is incredibly unclear. Two, there’s probably some legitimate concern about the negative effect of a presidential candidate pointing out that the sky is in fact falling. Three, the candidates are largely funded by Wall St. and don’t want to bring up the dreaded R word, regulation.

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Katrina vanden Heuvel
Editorial Director and Publisher, The Nation

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