Too bad he wouldn't listen

He heard, but didn't listen:

"If Paul Krugman has a good idea, in terms of how to spend money efficiently and effectively to jump-start the economy, then we’re going to do it. If somebody has an idea for a tax cut that is better than a tax cut we’ve proposed, we will embrace it . . . Just show me. If you can show me that something is going to work, I will welcome it"

That was in January 2009. Had Obama listened to the Nobel laureate - and others who knew a thing or two about fiscal stimulus - the economic recovery and especially the jobs situation would not be his Achilles Heel going into 2012.

I will never understand why - when Obama had all the political capital he required - he refused to accept the obvious.

Meanwhile, reality is finally staring to intrude on the coalition government and its Chancellor as Britain provides textbook instruction on how to repeat the mistakes of the past, with devastating results. The Guardian predictably piles on, but Hutton, as usual, puts it best:

"It is a tragedy – not only for our own unemployed and millions more whose chances of upward mobility and advancement have been wrecked, but for the character of the international debate. The UK – and the world – deserve better."

As the U.S. follows Britain lemming-like into the abyss, three words ought to haunt our leaders: John Maynard Keynes.