Paul Krugman

Paul Krugman @paulkrugman

I can't help noticing a parallel between military and economic developments right now. People who insisted that invading Iraq would be a splendid little war – and never acknowledged having been wrong – seem to be running national security 1/ — PolitiTweet.org

Paul Krugman @paulkrugman

If a Democrat does win next year, she or he will have to fight hard against fiscal scolds, who tend to be oddly silent when the GOP cuts taxes, but spend a lot of time demanding that Democrats abandon their agenda 3/ — PolitiTweet.org

Paul Krugman @paulkrugman

Namely, it was a disaster. FDR cut back sharply on public employment programs, raised taxes, and tried to balance the budget -- and the result was the "second depression" of 1937, which badly hurt his ability to continue with reform 2/ https://t.co/Rke4OAldHg — PolitiTweet.org

Paul Krugman @paulkrugman

This is a good article on the real New Deal, which was more like Elizabeth Warren than Bernie Sanders. One thing should be noted about FDR's "tacking to the center" after 1936, however 1/ https://t.co/wmCRpCQPEA https://t.co/vOKqWeqs59 — PolitiTweet.org

Paul Krugman @paulkrugman

RT @TBPInvictus: Remember the Sept 2016 Trump/Clinton debate, when Trump said the economy was in a big, fat, ugly bubble AND that the Fed w… — PolitiTweet.org

Paul Krugman @paulkrugman

To cut or not to cut? Not an easy question https://t.co/Y8eVomRboX — PolitiTweet.org

Paul Krugman @paulkrugman

RT @ThePlumLineGS: Look, here's the thing. Biden has a real opportunity to get this whole debate over his comments about segregationists r… — PolitiTweet.org

Paul Krugman @paulkrugman

RT @BrendanNyhan: The price of the civility that many - like Biden - praise in mid-20th century politics was grotesque racial apartheid per… — PolitiTweet.org

Paul Krugman @paulkrugman

Way down on the celebrity scale I am, but people do come up to me and say "I love your books, especially The World Is Flat" Not sure where this falls on the honored/insulted continuum — PolitiTweet.org

Paul Krugman @paulkrugman

Good to see matters of war and peace being turned into episodes of Short Attention Span Theater https://t.co/fSLgu4f5SM — PolitiTweet.org

Paul Krugman @paulkrugman

Anyway, while there's a metaphysical debate over whether Libra really uses blockchain, to me it just looks like another version of shadow banking, which can seem like a good deal until it turns out that bypassing regulation also means no safety net 3/ — PolitiTweet.org

Paul Krugman @paulkrugman

In practice, transaction fees on crypto are notoriously high, aren't they? 2/ https://t.co/L38u9SX6kR — PolitiTweet.org

Paul Krugman @paulkrugman

For my sins, I'm reading about Facebook's new proposed currency. This passage really puzzled me 1/ https://t.co/bpcZNZ9DJW https://t.co/kZQcGqLz3j — PolitiTweet.org

Paul Krugman @paulkrugman

RT @dburbach: This is like giving the Nobel Prize for Chemistry to Dr. Pepper, but there we are. https://t.co/k9VtUO79WW — PolitiTweet.org

Paul Krugman @paulkrugman

RT @BrendanNyhan: The price of the civility that many - like Biden - praise in mid-20th century politics was grotesque racial apartheid per… — PolitiTweet.org

Paul Krugman @paulkrugman

Good points from @ThePlumLineGS . Despite low unemployment, voters (rightly) don't give Trump much credit, and believe (also rightly) that his policies favor plutocrats, not workers. Imagine what will happen if the economy slows https://t.co/qy9Ep5vhiT — PolitiTweet.org

Paul Krugman @paulkrugman

So even as Trump boasts, falsely, that foreigners are paying his tariffs (actually it's ordinary American families), foreigners are in fact receiving a large fraction of the benefits from his tax cut -- at the expense of the Treasury, ie taxpayers. Funny how that works 4/ — PolitiTweet.org

Paul Krugman @paulkrugman

So the big beneficiaries are stockholders. Among Americans, that's a wealthy minority: despite 401(k)s and all that, stock ownership is highly concentrated at the top. Beyond that, however, around 1/3 of US stocks are owned by foreigners 3/ — PolitiTweet.org

Paul Krugman @paulkrugman

The claim was that this would lead to massive inflows of capital from abroad and a huge investment surge, so that the benefits would actually flow to workers. But the capital inflow and investment surge aren't happening 2/ https://t.co/cq7o2fEkjZ — PolitiTweet.org

Paul Krugman @paulkrugman

One thing I haven't seen emphasized much is that it's becoming increasingly certain that the Trump tax cut actually made America poorer. Remember, the core of that legislation was a huge cut in corporate taxes, which has drastically reduced revenue 1/ https://t.co/Xiy1oOrL9h — PolitiTweet.org

Paul Krugman @paulkrugman

But in Trump's world, other countries aren't allowed to bolster their economies. Only America has that right – actually, only when it might help his reelection. I'd say it was a double standard, but I don't think there are any standards here at all 3/ — PolitiTweet.org

Paul Krugman @paulkrugman

The thing is, while there is a case for US easing, it's not slam-dunk – current data aren't that weak, so it's more about "insurance". Meanwhile European data are much more decisively showing trouble. So the ECB has much more reason than the Fed to move 2/ https://t.co/0pQ9RWNIkD — PolitiTweet.org

Paul Krugman @paulkrugman

This is actually kind of funny: Trump has been demanding that the Fed cut rates, but is going berserk over Mario Draghi talking about European monetary easing 1/ https://t.co/XgjAjaU2lj — PolitiTweet.org

Paul Krugman @paulkrugman

Europe's racist rightwingers are willing to throw a few crumbs to the white working class. Trump won't even do that. https://t.co/ssmuwd0zik — PolitiTweet.org

Paul Krugman @paulkrugman

Well, it would mean giving millions of US citizens, many of them nonwhite, a meaningful say in how they're governed. From McConnell's point of view that IS socialism — PolitiTweet.org

Paul Krugman @paulkrugman

Exactly right. There is no Trump health plan, there will never be a plan, but there is a plant to keep claiming that there's a plan and blur the issue — PolitiTweet.org

Paul Krugman @paulkrugman

For some reason I'm getting some debt-scold stuff over the transom. So I thought I might want to put this picture out https://t.co/szV3wsmAaU — PolitiTweet.org

Paul Krugman @paulkrugman

Sorry, here's the Orban link 5/ https://t.co/5f5CesZWnA — PolitiTweet.org

Paul Krugman @paulkrugman

If you look at Hungary's Orban, in some ways a harbinger for the collapse of democracy here, he actually does provide some real benefits to workers. Democrats should in a way be grateful for Trump's mindless greed 4/ — PolitiTweet.org

Paul Krugman @paulkrugman

So Trump would be much stronger if he threw those constituents at least a bone or two. Why doesn't he? Is it personal -- pathological lack of empathy? Is he afraid that if he deviates from the hard right the GOP might call him on his corruption and Putinizing? 3/ — PolitiTweet.org