Krugman: China sends us poisoned toys and we send them toxic securities

Princeton professor Paul Krugman won the Nobel prize last year for his work in global trade theory. But thanks to his work as a New York Times columnist, he is getting far more attention for his public pronouncements than his elegant equations. As an expert on the matter, his latest remarks on international trade given at the World Business Forum are priceless, specifically the China-U.S. relationship.

Most importantly, his comments question an idea promoted by Bill Clinton and countless others -- that economic integration of countries around the world is always a good thing. Back on November 2003, I spoke at a conference in Hong Kong (in the same spectacular hotel where Sarah Palin appeared last month) which Clinton wrapped up with an exceptionally lucid speech on the idea that if all the countries of the world become economically interdependent, they will be less likely to terrorize each other.