Paul Krugman

Paul Krugman @paulkrugman

Trump orders GM to make ventilators under Defense Production Act. So even he has been forced to do the obvious thing. But will it be a one-off? And how much better off would we be if he had done it a while back? — PolitiTweet.org

Paul Krugman @paulkrugman

RT @nytopinion: . @PaulKrugman responded to readers commenting on his column, "On Coronavirus, We’re No.1" Read their exchanges here: http… — PolitiTweet.org

Paul Krugman @paulkrugman

To everyone wondering what happened to the country that won WW2 with incredible feats of mobilization, NYS seems to be doing just that. Now if only we had a president. — PolitiTweet.org

Paul Krugman @paulkrugman

We're all focused on deaths, and rightly so, but in the background we also have major financial disruption; markets are basically paying the government to borrow, but cutting off many businesses https://t.co/ZJGpqlOY5u — PolitiTweet.org

Paul Krugman @paulkrugman

The politics of Covid denial are exactly like the politics of climate change denial, except accelerated by a factor of 100 https://t.co/u0yTOODNKa — PolitiTweet.org

Paul Krugman @paulkrugman

Hmm. Not seeing any apologies from Rush Limbaugh, Larry Kudlow, Donald Trump ... https://t.co/3HAKCQzG72 — PolitiTweet.org

Paul Krugman @paulkrugman

Thread. Trump is perhaps uniquely unsuited to this crisis, but the intellectual and moral degeneration of the GOP is the larger issue — PolitiTweet.org

Paul Krugman @paulkrugman

So government borrowing just draws on this pool of excess savings. Furthermore, in so doing it helps prevent an even steeper economic contraction 5/ — PolitiTweet.org

Paul Krugman @paulkrugman

But where does the borrowed money come from? Basically, right now we have trillions in private savings with no place to go, because private investment demand isn't sufficient to use them; who's going to invest in the face of a plague of unknown duration? 4/ — PolitiTweet.org

Paul Krugman @paulkrugman

In the most immediate sense, the govt is going to borrow the money — and its borrowing costs are near record lows, despite the surging deficit (those recent wiggles are about financial disruption, which the Fed has mostly calmed) 3/ https://t.co/Bf8PvwRxCZ — PolitiTweet.org

Paul Krugman @paulkrugman

We went through this argument back in 2008-2009, when many people (including some who should have known better) worried that government borrowing was going to "crowd out" private investment. There are times when that happens, but this isn't one of them 2/ — PolitiTweet.org

Paul Krugman @paulkrugman

I've been getting some questions from readers wondering about the cost of the not-a-stimulus (it's actually disaster relief) package. "Where's the $2 trillion coming from? Thin air?" Basically, yes 1/ — PolitiTweet.org

Paul Krugman @paulkrugman

RT @Laurie_Garrett: The trajectory of the U.S. #COVID19 epidemic just couldn't be worse, especially compared to other nations. We've outpac… — PolitiTweet.org

Paul Krugman @paulkrugman

Predictions are hard, especially about the future, but as the death toll rises and the economic impact hits home, this bump will probably become a forgotten blip 3/ — PolitiTweet.org

Paul Krugman @paulkrugman

Foreign leaders have experienced much bigger surges 2/ https://t.co/F2EaX9aqpU — PolitiTweet.org

Paul Krugman @paulkrugman

Aha. Monmouth director of polling says what I was thinking: you expect some rally-around-the-flag in a crisis, and Trump's approval bump is exceptionally small 1/ https://t.co/t4tKgGm0mP — PolitiTweet.org

Paul Krugman @paulkrugman

RT @prioritiesUSA: Trump refused to take the threat of the coronavirus seriously, now he won’t take responsibility as his administration ha… — PolitiTweet.org

Paul Krugman @paulkrugman

RT @nytopinion: "We’re still falling down on crucial fronts, mainly because even now Trump and his party aren’t taking the threat seriously… — PolitiTweet.org

Paul Krugman @paulkrugman

Silly question, I know, but have any of the right-wing pundits who ridiculed concerns about Covid-19 apologized, let alone done any soul-searching about why they were so wrong? Even one? — PolitiTweet.org

Paul Krugman @paulkrugman

RT @rachsieg: throw back thursday — PolitiTweet.org

Paul Krugman @paulkrugman

Here's a list of closures by state. WV isn't on it; look at Tennessee and Texas 2/ https://t.co/MtY82o9Kth — PolitiTweet.org

Paul Krugman @paulkrugman

At least WV accepted the Medicaid expansion, and as a result has largely been spared the wave of rural hospital closings that have afflicted non-expansion states 1/ https://t.co/zaGi6BTIuk — PolitiTweet.org

Paul Krugman @paulkrugman

RT @greenhousenyt: Donald Trump sent a cease-and-desist letter to try to stop this hard-hitting ad from running -- it shines a bright light… — PolitiTweet.org

Paul Krugman @paulkrugman

Will the stimulus bill help? Not much — because it really isn't stimulus, nor should it be. This isn't a conventional recession, it's more like a medically induced coma; we want workers to stay home, and give them disaster relief, which is what the bill mostly does 3/ — PolitiTweet.org

Paul Krugman @paulkrugman

Bear in mind that at the absolute worst of the Great Recession we were losing 800,000 jobs *per month*. So this is at least an order of magnitude worse 2/ https://t.co/94RBK83RPi — PolitiTweet.org

Paul Krugman @paulkrugman

Not a surprise, but still an astonishing number. Bear in mind that not everyone is eligible for UI, so true job losses bigger than 3 million — in one week 1/ https://t.co/Qg9dEiQNDc — PolitiTweet.org

Paul Krugman @paulkrugman

The point is that in wartime or its equivalent the federal government has to be exactly what Trump says he doesn't want to be — the "shipping clerk" for crucial supplies. This is no time for passing the buck 7/ — PolitiTweet.org

Paul Krugman @paulkrugman

This is exactly what's happening now, as states and even foreign buyers are competing for essential medical equipment, with no reason to believe that the winners of this competition are those who need the equipment most 6/ https://t.co/fng33ksoQP — PolitiTweet.org

Paul Krugman @paulkrugman

Specific instances of industry non-cooperation aside, there was general concern about a scramble for scarce resources, both with civilian uses competing with the war effort and with different pieces of the war effort competing with each other 5/ — PolitiTweet.org

Paul Krugman @paulkrugman

In fact, they insisted on continuing to do so for several months *after* Pearl Harbor. 4/ — PolitiTweet.org