But what makes a man great in my mind is what that person does with his mind be it great or a mediocre one.
Hmm, I think, not surprisingly, we are heading in somewhat different directions. I have no idea whether Krugman is a "great person." He's clearly a top notch economist but I have no idea about his character. At least no serious idea. And I'm not terribly interested.
My comment was about the quality of his ideas. I think it's important to address that, to listen to that, to make up one's mind whether you want to read/listen to him in the future.
It's also been my experience that some scarily bright people, the kind that just spill forth with jarringly complicated but terribly persuasive observations are, at best socially inept.
I don't think that's true of Krugman but he is definitely, given what you can see on tv, not the most graceful person around.
As for what bothers several of you about his "shrillness", Krugman is no politician, nor, so far as I know, has any aspirations to be such. It's no wonder that the Clinton folk didn't appoint him to a position that required public appearances. So I see no reason to judge him by those standards. That's Obama's job; and Larry Summers' job, et al. |
