To non-economists: part of what makes Krugman's work so good is his ability to express very complex ideas and concepts in such a way that every day readers are able to grasp and appreciate.

"the country needs to reexamine what it is all about, and fundamentally change away from a debt based society to a saving based society again."

That's great. Does the Jr. Senator from Illinios say exactly how we do that? I've heard various proposals, invest in alternative energy, produce more, go green, ect. They are all short on specifics.

Now those were not the exact words of him, nor Carter for that matter, but it did remind me of the Carter vs. Regan argument. Bacevich mentioned it in one of his interviews recently. He basically said that Carter was a failed president, but there was one concept that he understood that was never accepted by the American public. Bacevich argues that Carter (in the malaise speech?) noted that the dependency on foreign oil and credit was slowly but surely weakening the country, and that America needed to become more frugal, more or less. Bacevich further argued that Regan, in contrast said that Carter was talking nonsense. America can do whatever it wants, and there is always "more" to be had, and we can have whatever we dream of if we just put our minds to it (irregardless of consequences, mind you).

Bacevich says that basic argument between those two concepts lost Carter the election. Let us see how accepting of the notion America is this time on Nov. 4th. I did not do Bacevich, Obama, Regan, or Carter justice in my articulation of the discussion, but it can be found here:

http://www.pbs.org/moyers/journal/09262008/watch.html