Paul Krugman

Paul Krugman @paulkrugman

I do wonder, however, if he's thought this through politically. The post office is overwhelmingly popular; if it collapses on his watch, it would hurt him 6/ https://t.co/LmS3i7IQCp — PolitiTweet.org

Paul Krugman @paulkrugman

Also, the world's two top oil exporters are Saudi Arabia and Russia, so Trump is helping his favorite autocrats; meanwhile, he believes that the post office is subsidizing Jeff Bezos, whose newspaper reports uncomfortable truths 5/ — PolitiTweet.org

Paul Krugman @paulkrugman

And postal workers are overwhelmingly unionized https://t.co/SOBM0DcOb9 while mining, including oil&gas, is basically un-unionized 4/ https://t.co/SSLx1oflhB — PolitiTweet.org

Paul Krugman @paulkrugman

One answer is that in 2016 oil&gas gave 88% of its contributions to Republicans https://t.co/CmvQ4iESrC while postal unions gave only 12 percent https://t.co/IBckwmxIzv 3/ — PolitiTweet.org

Paul Krugman @paulkrugman

Why is he refusing to help the Post Office, which is in financial crisis? 2/ https://t.co/pMf1KxcWrx — PolitiTweet.org

Paul Krugman @paulkrugman

Why is Trump so desperate to raise oil prices, even though America is a net oil importer? 1/ https://t.co/AphgqCf00o — PolitiTweet.org

Paul Krugman @paulkrugman

RT @ewarren: Our postal service is on the verge of collapse. I’m calling on Congress to act swiftly to shore up USPS so that everyone can c… — PolitiTweet.org

Paul Krugman @paulkrugman

But a relief package is stalled because Republicans refuse to provide aid to these governments https://t.co/WJTa9ETJwZ — PolitiTweet.org

Paul Krugman @paulkrugman

Again, a striking contrast with Trump's eagerness to raise oil prices, supposedly to protect a much smaller number of jobs 2/ https://t.co/f9q0Mb7YDJ — PolitiTweet.org

Paul Krugman @paulkrugman

Another baffling refusal to provide needed aid 1/ https://t.co/RnZrxaVdkt — PolitiTweet.org

Paul Krugman @paulkrugman

So I'm not sure what's going on. Is McConnell just so arrogant that he imagines he can always bully Dems? Do Rs find the idea of helping those in need so repugnant that they're willing to pay a heavy political price to impose suffering? Inquiring minds want to know 7/ — PolitiTweet.org

Paul Krugman @paulkrugman

And a state/local/hospital fiscal crisis would, among other things, hurt the economy in the run-up to the election, which hurts Trump. So Dems appear to have most of the bargaining power 6/ — PolitiTweet.org

Paul Krugman @paulkrugman

Also, believing that the public would blame Democrats for bad things happening on Trump's watch — even if it were true, which it isn't — assumes a level of public attention to legislative maneuvering that doesn't happen in real life 5/ — PolitiTweet.org

Paul Krugman @paulkrugman

Maybe McConnell thinks that Dems will be cowed by the prospect of being cast as obstructionists. This might work if Trump had overwhelming public approval for his handling of Covid-19; but he's actually (and rightly) underwater and sinking fast 4/ https://t.co/EV6sgQH0xX — PolitiTweet.org

Paul Krugman @paulkrugman

And in terms of sheer political power, Dems control one house of Congress; nothing happens unless Pelosi and her party agree to it. Why shouldn't legislation make substantial concessions to their priorities? 3/ — PolitiTweet.org

Paul Krugman @paulkrugman

First of all, Dems are obviously right to demand that aid. State budgets are in desperate straits, as are hospitals. No reason to wait, especially since they can't trust McConnell to act later 2/ https://t.co/lJgLG2uAy7 — PolitiTweet.org

Paul Krugman @paulkrugman

I have to admit that I'm baffled by the Trump/McConnell strategy of stonewalling on aid to hospitals and state governments. I get that they have bad intentions, but what's the political logic? 1/ https://t.co/AG18DolgOk — PolitiTweet.org

Paul Krugman @paulkrugman

Another way to think about this. US consumers around 7.5 b barrels of oil per year. So a (say) $20 price rise would be a tax on Americans of $150 billion a year. How many workers might this benefit? ~ 150 K. Hospitals employ 5 million; s&l govt 16 million 6/ https://t.co/PJC1mdS2V4 — PolitiTweet.org

Paul Krugman @paulkrugman

So am I ipso facto boring? Actually, please don't answer that ... 3/ — PolitiTweet.org

Paul Krugman @paulkrugman

I wrote an autobiographical piece around 20 years ago in which I affirmed the boringness of my life 2/ https://t.co/5LBpDV9NF2 https://t.co/Mxy9oIqfrf — PolitiTweet.org

Paul Krugman @paulkrugman

Branko writes about how you can't be a great social scientist if you haven't lived an interesting life. Hmmm ... 1/ — PolitiTweet.org

Paul Krugman @paulkrugman

So, twice in the past few days someone managed to change the information on my Wall Street Journal digital account, locking me out. Great job on security, guys. — PolitiTweet.org

Paul Krugman @paulkrugman

Aside from desperate need for medical care, hospitals are a huge source of employment, while oil & gas isn't. So Rs willing to subsidize capital but not help workers. Are you surprised? 5/ — PolitiTweet.org

Paul Krugman @paulkrugman

If I'm reading this right, oil&gas 40X (!) as capital-intensive as overall private sector. Also included hospitals, bc Rs trying to block additional funding despite Covid 4/ https://t.co/JMPCjZofIw — PolitiTweet.org

Paul Krugman @paulkrugman

A little table: fixed assets in 2018 from BEA https://t.co/1Bfa7JUSyO, employment from BLS https://t.co/GfoGTVoap7, implied capital per worker in thousands of dollars. 3/ https://t.co/ittsthDSc0 — PolitiTweet.org

Paul Krugman @paulkrugman

If you look at it more closely, it's even worse than it appears on casual observation. Why? Because oil&gas extraction is extremely capital-intensive, so almost none of the benefits flow to workers. 2/ — PolitiTweet.org

Paul Krugman @paulkrugman

I'm still marveling at the fact that the president of the US is trying to create a cartel to support oil prices, in effect taxing U.S. consumers to support the oil industry 1/ https://t.co/KkUvxvcJz2 — PolitiTweet.org

Paul Krugman @paulkrugman

"[P]laces where residents don’t think global warming is real, where they don’t believe humans are responsible, where they don’t think citizens have a responsibility to act ... are also failing to change their behavior during the coronavirus crisis." https://t.co/CVY2C3TWBA — PolitiTweet.org

Paul Krugman @paulkrugman

Anyway, amid everything else it's hard to focus. But Trumpian favoritism on fossil fuels is quite something 7/ — PolitiTweet.org

Paul Krugman @paulkrugman

My sense is that there's also a sort of ideological thing: conservatives love to talk about the wonders of fracking, and still think of renewables as hippie stuff even though they're now a huge sector 6/ — PolitiTweet.org