Goldman Sachs' "success"? Krugman warns:
First, it tells us that Goldman is very good at what it does. Unfortunately, what it does is bad for America.
Second, it shows that Wall Street’s bad habits — above all, the system of compensation that helped cause the financial crisis — have not gone away.
Third, it shows that by rescuing the financial system without reforming it, Washington has done nothing to protect us from a new crisis, and, in fact, has made another crisis more likely.
That's why there's no leap in the markets, why GE's earnings report is scary, and why (I think) we're in for it. What seems grossly unfair is that Obama has been saddled with the outhouse leavings of Reagan, Clinton and the Bush family.
NB: Elsewhere on the editorial pages today, the Times calls on Obama for an investigation of law-breaking during the Bush administration.
