Miller: I was right, after all

U.S. Rep. Brad Miller is still feeling a little defensive about a ribbing he took two years ago.

In a guest post on the liberal TPM Cafe Web site, the Raleigh Democrat writes that "people laughed" at him when he argued in 2007 that innovation in the financial sector can be a bad thing.

During an off-the-cuff floor speech about predatory lending, Miller compared loans unfavorably to a stain-resistant silk necktie he was wearing, saying the tie was an "important innovation." He was mocked for the metaphor by a Capitol Hill paper.

"Serious economists are now arguing that we should not reflexively celebrate 'innovation' in the financial sector as we do innovation in the real economy," he writes. "I was ahead of my time. I said the same thing almost two years ago, and people laughed at me."

He noted that New York Times columnist Paul Krugman, economist James Kwak and Harvard law profess Elizabeth Warren have made similar arguments in recent months, with Warren saying the government should regulate financial instruments just like toasters.

"So why did my comparison of a mortgage and a necktie provoke snickering, and Elizabeth Warren's comparison of a mortgage and a toaster was seen as serious, scholarly insight?" he wrote.