Simon Johnson, the former IMF economist has become the Lil Wayne of meltdown commentary. He’s everywhere: This American Life, Fresh Air, TPM, etc. And I’ve found him incredibly persuasive and lucid on all things meltdown related. But there’s something that’s been nagging me. One of Johnson’s standard lines about the crisis is that receivership/nationalization would be the standard IMF prescription in this case if it were any other country. But my sense– and I know this is controversial terrain — was that the IMF *really* screwed up its management of financial crises around the globe in the 1990s. when Johnson was working there. Which makes me not exactly heartened to hear that nationalization is the IMF prescription in our case. Thoughts?
