Paul Krugman

Paul Krugman @paulkrugman

Well, I’m on the phone with my computer security service, and as I understand it someone compromised my IP address and is using it to download child pornography. I might just be a random target. But this could be an attempt to Qanon me. It’s an ugly world out there. — PolitiTweet.org

Paul Krugman @paulkrugman

For British readers: here's the link for buying Arguing With Zombies in the UK https://t.co/4N6XwB9tcg https://t.co/oX8LbHVkBK — PolitiTweet.org

Paul Krugman @paulkrugman

But while the way Trump has blown up the deficit is bad, the deficit itself just isn’t an important problem; which makes you wonder why so many people are still determined to believe otherwise 7/ — PolitiTweet.org

Paul Krugman @paulkrugman

Specifically, deficit spending is actually good under these circumstances, because it helps sustain demand and makes it easier to maintain employment. Now, we should be using deficits for good — rebuilding infrastructure, not giving corporate handouts 6/ — PolitiTweet.org

Paul Krugman @paulkrugman

That’s because the interest rate is below the economy’s growth rate — which is actually normal. Wait, there’s more. Interest rates are low because private spending is consistently weak, probably because of demographic factors. And that has implications for budget policy 5/ — PolitiTweet.org

Paul Krugman @paulkrugman

And even the interest payment number gives a misleading picture. *Real* interest payments are much lower, indeed barely positive. And the budget surplus needed to stabilize debt relative to GDP, which is a much better measure of the debt burden, is *negative* 4/ — PolitiTweet.org

Paul Krugman @paulkrugman

It’s true that the absolute debt number, even as a share of GDP, is way up. Interest payments are low because interest rates are low. But why should we care about the size of the debt stock? It’s debt service that matters, if anything does 3/ — PolitiTweet.org

Paul Krugman @paulkrugman

Let me start with a picture. Here’s federal interest payments as a share of GDP. They’re about half what they were at the end of the Reagan administration. Does this look like a crisis? 2/ https://t.co/BAEPAivCDv — PolitiTweet.org

Paul Krugman @paulkrugman

Bad ideas never sleep. Even though we’re all focused on a lawbreaking president who places his own concerns above the natural interest, I’m still getting mail from people sure that federal debt is a grave threat. So let me take a break from the news cycle to talk about that 1/ — PolitiTweet.org

Paul Krugman @paulkrugman

Any who believes this is an idiot. Iran has 80 million people — more than twice Iraq — who are strongly nationalistic. What are we going to do — reinstate the draft and send a million soldiers to occupy the country in perpetuity? — PolitiTweet.org

Paul Krugman @paulkrugman

So climate-related tariffs wouldn't be anything like Trump-type protection, morally, politically, or legally 4/ — PolitiTweet.org

Paul Krugman @paulkrugman

If all that is too YHTMAAAIYP (you have too many acronyms and abbreviations in your paper), the short of it is that a country that takes serious action on emissions is surely entitled to limit imports whose production also generates emissions. 3/ — PolitiTweet.org

Paul Krugman @paulkrugman

But it seemed likely that carbon pricing could be presented as a tax on *consumption* of carbon — in which case a tax on the carbon content of imports would be non-discriminatory and WTO legal, just as tariffs that go along with a VAT are OK 2/ — PolitiTweet.org

Paul Krugman @paulkrugman

Possible, but probably not. This issue was discussed at length circa 2009, when the House passed a cap-and-trade bill (which died in the Senate). It was clear that carbon pricing couldn't work without carbon tariffs 1/ — PolitiTweet.org

Paul Krugman @paulkrugman

RT @SopanDeb: going to be thinking about this quote from steve schmidt about lindsey graham for awhile in this rolling stone piece by @mark… — PolitiTweet.org

Paul Krugman @paulkrugman

One other lesson of this story is that Amazon only looks like an ethereal enterprise, living in cyberspace and untouched by human hands. In fact its business depends on a huge distribution workforce, with a lot of bricks-and-mortar capital 4/ — PolitiTweet.org

Paul Krugman @paulkrugman

In the case of Roundup, one person who had some stuff to sell figured out that there was money to be made in prepping other people's stuff for Amazon; friends and neighbors got into the business; and now there's a novel sort of industrial cluster 3/ — PolitiTweet.org

Paul Krugman @paulkrugman

When I was writing about this stuff, I loved to linger on the stories about how industrial clusters came into being — often as the result of seemingly trivial events. For example, the carpet center of Dalton GA originated in a tufted bedspread 2/ https://t.co/243wIGqMcW — PolitiTweet.org

Paul Krugman @paulkrugman

How Roundup, Montana became a major Amazon "prepping" center. At one level, it's about the modern digital economy. At another, it's classic economic geography 1/ https://t.co/TImFOvhNJw — PolitiTweet.org

Paul Krugman @paulkrugman

My new book "Arguing with Zombies" is coming out January 28. It can be purchased here https://t.co/xvPelwaBfa https://t.co/jxWXgdf3vK — PolitiTweet.org

Paul Krugman @paulkrugman

Trump imagines that other countries can be easily humiliated — that we live in a world of Lindsey Grahams https://t.co/cob2Xp1LA1 — PolitiTweet.org

Paul Krugman @paulkrugman

Dismal — PolitiTweet.org

Paul Krugman @paulkrugman

RT @NickKristof: So it seems that the result of Trump's assassination of Soleimani will be: The ouster of US forces in Iraq; a possible reg… — PolitiTweet.org

Paul Krugman @paulkrugman

RT @DavidNir: Cable TV's interest in voices, ranked: A. People who were wrong about the Iraq war but still insist they're right B. People… — PolitiTweet.org

Paul Krugman @paulkrugman

Small peeve: hard to grasp what acreage means in this context. It’s 20,000 square miles, ie 200 miles x 100. Like all of Rt 1 from NY to philly and 100 miles on each side — PolitiTweet.org

Paul Krugman @paulkrugman

RT @Cirincione: Just read transcript of the State Department briefing on the Suleimani killing. Could not believe the arrogance of the Sta… — PolitiTweet.org

Paul Krugman @paulkrugman

But the Trumpies will try the usual playbook all the same https://t.co/sPB2iRWfU9 — PolitiTweet.org

Paul Krugman @paulkrugman

Always good to have actual political scientists weigh in; my sense is that getting into a war won't help Trump, but here's some actual data https://t.co/1szRL5gvaj — PolitiTweet.org

Paul Krugman @paulkrugman

RT @JamesMelville: Portugal 🇵🇹 has turned its back on austerity and right wing populism and replaced it with massive infrastructure and pub… — PolitiTweet.org

Paul Krugman @paulkrugman

But Pompeo just said we’ve made the world much safer — PolitiTweet.org