Krugman Retracts Anti-Swiss SMEAR

There's basically no national or ethnic group you can make fun of these days without being accused of racism, but a few are considered mildly less offensive than others. For example, you can always call Scots "stabby," because they love to stab each other for sport, and Belgians are usually fair game, too, due to their treacherousness and love of mayonnaise. But as Paul Krugman discovered last week, you do not get away with insulting the Swiss.

In a column on health care, he barfed out this evil phrase, which was an offense to upstanding Swiss people everywhere: "lederhosen-wearing holey-cheese eaters".

This is what started the reprehensible anti-Swiss pogroms of 2009, which have come to a swift end now that the all-powerful Krugman has retracted.

[ New York Times ]