A friend of mine posted an interesting (if not terribly original) New York times editorial by Princeton economics professor Paul Krugman on Facebook recently:
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/02/opinion/02krugman.html?ex=1388638800&en=f88eb7c84f5e06c5&ei=5124&partner=facebook&exprod=facebook
As usual, Mr. Krugman is on to something here--just not as much as he thinks. The race-related issue he didn't address was how true racial equality is achievable when so many blacks and other minorities remain so dependent on government charity. While the good professor, like most liberals, doesn't aim to keep Americans dependent on government for its own sake, reducing that dependency is not a priority for him.
Republicans should make building a maximally self-reliant citizenry part of the centerpiece of their future outreach to nonwhite demographic groups, particularly African-Americans. This may or may not work politically, but it's an infinitely more intellectually and morally respectable position than the politics of racial resentment the GOP has admittedly played since the Nixon years.
As for conservative economics being discredited by the financial crisis, Krugman disregards the massive role government intervention played in creating the crisis. Fannie Mae & Freddie Mac were government-sponsored enterprises, remember? But that's a comment for another day...
