How the Steely-Eyed Fiscal "Realist" / Conservative See the World

Here are some bits from a post by Paul Krugman on his blog at the NY Times making fun of Alan Greenspan's "worldview"...

First he cites a bit from an FT article by Greenspan:

Today’s competitive markets, whether we seek to recognise it or not, are driven by an international version of Adam Smith’s “invisible hand” that is unredeemably opaque. With notably rare exceptions (2008, for example), the global “invisible hand” has created relatively stable exchange rates, interest rates, prices, and wage rates.

To help "appreciate" the subtlety of Greenspan's logic, Krugman points to some comments on a posting (at Crooked Timber) that posits similar examples of this brilliant logic:

With notably rare exceptions, Newt Gingrich is a loyal and faithful husband.

With notably rare exceptions, Japanese nuclear reactors have been secure from earthquakes.

Though unredeemably(sic) opaque, Mr. Madoff’s operations delivered excellent returns, with notably rare exceptions.

With notably rare exceptions, the levees protecting New Orleans have held fast in the face of major hurricanes.

With notably rare exceptions, locking all exits to the workplace is a harmless way to improve your employees’ productivity.

With notably rare exceptions, petroleum extraction has minimal environmental impact.

With notably rare exceptions, simply stated, there is no doubt that Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction after August of 2002.

With notably rare exceptions, none of us is Spartacus.

With notably rare exceptions, the Toronto Maple Leafs win the Stanley Cup every year.

With notably rare exceptions, noise is Gaussian distributed.

With notably rare exceptions, when you wake up in the morning, you know for a fact that you will still be alive by the end of the day.

With notably rare exceptions, Soylent Green is NOT people.

With notably rare exceptions, the Roman Empire’s crucifixion policy was successful in containing subversive religious movements

With notably rare exceptions, the shadow banking system has made the US economy more stable.

With notably rare exceptions, the bacterium Yersinia pestis does not cause significant human suffering.

With notably rare exceptions, economics is scientific discipline.

With notably rare exceptions, allowing Ayn Rand’s acolytes to serve as Federal Reserve chairmen has worked out well

With notably rare exceptions, Michael Jackson behaved perfectly normally.

This is the thinking brought to you by the Reagan Revolution and the shining examplar of "a Decider" as President, George Bush. Ah... for the good old days when white was black, and black was light.

Sadly, we live in Tea Party times when Obama is painted in one shade only, an unrelenting socialist, Muslim, liberal gray. Too bad we can't bring back the glorious "with notable rare exceptions" time of the Reagan/Bush/Bush rule of the imperial presidency when the media knew it would have its head chopped off if they questioned "the logic" of this era.