Time magazine has again demonstrated its irrelevance in the Internet age with a fatuous feature called 25 People to Blame for the Financial Crisis.

The failure here is two-fold: One, the editors choices of whos to blame, and two, the reader poll ranking those choices.

Lets start with whos on the little list  or more to the point, whos not. Time did an OK job of unearthing lesser-known names who definitely bear some culpability in the disaster  such as AIGs Joe Cassano, who did much to unleash the nightmare of credit-default swaps.

But how can anyone take this list seriously when it doesnt include Ben Bernanke? Yes, Greenspan (who did make the list) laid the foundation, but Bernanke built on it with abandon. Perhaps its because the intelligentsia regards him a genuine scholar on monetary matters  you know, historian of the Great Depression and all that. A far more respectable background than Greenspan, who hung out with Randians and extolled the virtues of the gold standard.

Wheres Tim Geithner, the guy whose fingerprints were on every boneheaded decision of 2008, from Bear Stearns to Lehman and beyond?

And wheres Robert Rubin? What, is there some numerical limit of Goldman Sachs guys the editors arbitrarily applied to the list? Hank Paulsons on there, so Rubin cant be? Seems like Time lays a lot Rubins faux-deregulatory handiwork on the shoulders of Bill Clinton, which I daresay might be a bit unfair. Clinton revealed his navet on such matters when he remarked early in his first term, You mean to tell me that the success of the economic program and my re-election hinges on the Federal Reserve and a bunch of f*$(#@g bond traders?

Oh, and then theres Times inclusion of The American Consumer. Oh, that was clever, alright. I bet the editors were congratulating themselves over the brilliance of that one  Gee, this is almost as good as choosing You as Person of the Year a while back! But this too is too harsh  consumers were merely taking their cues from the politicians and central bankers driving the ship.

Even worse than Times 25 choices are the rankings furnished by its readers. I guess letting the readers vote is Times idea of Web 2.0. But the sheer folly of this is revealed when the number-one choice as ranked by the people who drove by the website, the premier villain of the financial calamity thats befallen us is drum roll, please Phil Gramm.

Phil Gramm?!? Yes, his name was the first on the faux-deregulation legislation that repealed Glass-Steagall in 1999, and hes worthy of inclusion on the list. But I suspect the reason he ranks so high is one that Time doesnt even mention in its write-up: His Kudlowesque comment last year, while on UBSs payroll and consulting the McCain campaign, that the recession is a mere figment of the collective imagination. Mustve stuck in the craw of a lot of political junkies.

And if were going to beat up on former members of Congress, shouldnt we beat up on a couple of others who are still around, like Barney Frank or Chris Dodd?

But whatever. Times payroll and page count shrinks as the economy and the Internet take their toll. Let us celebrate.

February 19, 2009

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