Silliness from Time Magazine

Via Brad DeLong, I see Time magazine has identified the “25 people to ‘blame’ for the financial crisis.” [my sarcastic quotes on blame; Time appears to be serious]

Amazingly, none of TWX’s (mostly former) top management—who pushed LBOs in the 1980s and Internet bubbles in the 1990s—makes on the list.

More amazingly, Lew Ranieri is on the list, while David Malpass is not.

Also making the list: Wen Jiabao, because the Chinese government “supplied the U.S. with an unprecedented amount of credit over the past eight years.” Let’s leave aside whether that credit wasn’t primarily to support Chinese exports (see, e.g., Brad Setser) and ask the obvious question:

Given that an external economy is providing you with (realtively) “easy” credit, what does that imply your Monetary Policy should be?

UPDATE: DeLong takes M2 to the next step, with predictable results.