Economic Forecast: Freezing Economy Ahead

You thought the last two weeks were cold? Wait until you feel the effects of Obama's "spending freeze."

• "Appalling on every level," writes Pulitzer Prize winning economist Paul Krugman.
• It's "another win" for Wall Street, says economist and former Labor secretary Robert Reich.
• "Dingbat Kabuki" theater, pronounces economist Brad deLong. And that's the kindest thing he has to say about it. "Barack Herbert Hoover Obama" is the worst.
• "Pretty disappointing," is the mildest judgment U. of Oregon economist Mark Thoma can muster. He adds:

  The long-term budget problem is due to primarily one thing, rising health care costs. Everything else is dwarfed by that problem. If we solve the health care cost problem, the rest is easy. If we don't solve it the rest won't matter. This was an opportunity for Obama to explain the importance of health care reform and how it relates to the long-term debt problem.* * * Instead we get cheap political tricks that are likely to backfire."

Rachel Maddow -- no slouch, herself, as a Rhodes Scholar who authored a Ph.D. dissertation on health care in British and American prisons -- confronts White House flack Jared Bernstein to ask why Obama is aping Herbert Hoover's strategy "for making the Depression Great."

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