Top of the morning

Economist Dean Baker has some stinging words for New York Times columnist David Brooks today that could be applied to a lot of the hand-wringing by the Wall Street elites and their defenders who are somehow trying to shift the blame for the current economic problems to everybody else.

Baker points out that Brooks uses his column today to blame the workers. Here’s a sample.

For decades, men have adapted poorly to the shifting demands of the service economy. Now they are paying the price. For decades, the working-class social fabric has been fraying. Now the working class is in danger of descending into underclass-style dysfunction

Here’s Baker’s reply.

Working class men are ill-prepared to deal with the effects of incredible economic mismanagement that has made them its primary victims. It has been conscious policy of David Brooks and his peers to weaken welfare state supports, making income and well-being almost entirely dependent on employment. Now, because David Brooks’ highly-educated peers are incompetent economic managers, millions of working class people (disproportionately men) are facing extended periods of unemployment.

Ouch. But Baker’s right.