Greg Mankiw is a Contemptible Liar

Drink some Pepto-Bismol before you head over to the New Republic, and take a look at the whole train wreck.
( Hats off to Atrios )

Harvard University is, by some measures, one of the most left-wing institutions on the face of the earth. So you may be surprised to hear that it has endorsed George W. Bush's proposal for Social Security reform. Literally, of course, that is not true. But the retirement plan Harvard has set up for faculty members like me bears a striking resemblance to what the Social Security system would become under the president's proposed changes.

The wingnuts love to chortle about the Little Red Schoolhouse on the Charles. Mankiw is a very smart guy, he writes eloquently, and he knows that his target audience with suck this shit up with a straw. Unfortunately, some of us here in Blogtopia actually attended Harvard and we know the truth about that place: it is a bastion of wealth and privilege. Aside from a minority of dissenting undergraduates, who are at best tolerated with bemused comtempt, Harvard is about as left wing as your local country club.

Mankiw is right there in Cambridge, so we know that he sees this. He is a super-bright guy, so the presumption is that he understands this. The only reason for him to then write the above nonsense is that he profits when people think that way. Method, Motive, Opportunity. Mankiw is a silver-tongued liar, he is up to no good, and I get furious when I think that I subsidised him by purchasing his crappy textbook.