JOE AND THE STOCK OPTIONS. In between writing a bunch of frightening posts about the bursting housing bubble, Dean Baker took some time out yesterday to remind us of Joe Lieberman's ignominious and highly consequential '90s-era role in getting the Financial Accounting Standards Board to back down from requiring that stock options be treated as expenses against profit. This story won't be news to a lot of readers, but Dean's pithy account offers a nice little reminder that the senator's domestic policy record isn't as uncheckered or unimpeachably liberal as his defenders have asserted. (It certainly offers a nice counterpoint to the emerging, crazy narratize pitting Lunch Pail Joe and the hearty blue collar base he embodies against a bunch of namby-pamby elite liberals.) Take a look.
--Sam Rosenfeld
