ST PAUL RETURNS

I’ve always had the New York Times in my favorites. Not that I expect truth, or high mindedness.

I imagine the Soviets used to read Pravda and Isvestia the same way I read the Times: see an official version of the story in order to compare it to other versions.

Also, I used to enjoy Paul Krugman who is smart enough to communicate to the likes of me, and who aims at conveying truth high-mindedly.

Krugman had become a liberal star and NYT tried to cash in with their “Times Select” pay-to-view service. They included Krugman’s op-ed pieces in their paid-only section.

Considering the low level of the rest of their offerings I didn’t pay and so missed Paul Krugman.

Now Paul Krugman is available again, for free. Here’s his latest piece, which compares Countrywide Financial’s CEO’s behavior with that of Ken Lay.

Countrywide, he says, made bad real estate loans, then re-sold the loans as securities but continued to “service” the loans and collect servicing fees.

Countrywide seems peculiarly unwilling to work out deals that might let borrowers hold on to their homes — even when such a deal, by avoiding the costs of foreclosure, would actually work to the benefit of both sides.

Why block mutually beneficial deals? As the article points out, Countrywide can make money from the fees it charges on foreclosures, while the losses from mortgages that could have been saved, but weren’t, are borne by others.

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