Paul Krugman

Paul Krugman @paulkrugman

In short, the DeSantis administration has learned nothing from its deadly summer, except that if you deny reality loudly enough, you may get away with failure 8/ https://t.co/KlXNMSXSU8 — PolitiTweet.org

Paul Krugman @paulkrugman

Well, they're already floating the argument that people who are hospitalized for other reasons then found to have Covid shouldn't count. 7/ https://t.co/6LoFB3QjjG — PolitiTweet.org

Paul Krugman @paulkrugman

But what will they do when hospitalizations surge? FL is less vaccinated than NY — probably less than the numbers say, bc Miami-Dade is inflated by snowbirds and vaccine tourism. Plus the state has been anti-booster. So probably a significantly worse hospital case than NY 6/ — PolitiTweet.org

Paul Krugman @paulkrugman

Anyway, FL officials are, predictably, responding to the surge in reported cases by calling for ... less testing 5/ https://t.co/WyygF4clrK — PolitiTweet.org

Paul Krugman @paulkrugman

Partly this involved misrepresenting how onerous NY rules are. There was a huge and creepy flap over photos of AOC dining outdoors in FL, an activity that in NYC would have been and in fact still is — completely legal and normal 4/ — PolitiTweet.org

Paul Krugman @paulkrugman

The political relevance is obvious. Just a month or so ago, FL officials were boasting about their low case rate (never mind all those deaths earlier in 2021). Just days ago they were sneering at how NY, with all those restrictions, was leading the nation in cases 3/ — PolitiTweet.org

Paul Krugman @paulkrugman

These are 7-day averages, which are a lagging indicator during a surge; also, FL does only about half as much testing as NY. So the outbreak in FL is probably already worse than NY's 2/ https://t.co/GHe3TXuo9c — PolitiTweet.org

Paul Krugman @paulkrugman

Like many numbers types, I tend to obsessively follow the Covid data. One big story, which will probably get more coverage soon, is FL's rapid rise in the dismal rankings 1/ https://t.co/F2jtWUpU6q — PolitiTweet.org

Paul Krugman @paulkrugman

As a correspondent points out, Wisconsin grows a lot of GMO corn. — PolitiTweet.org

Paul Krugman @paulkrugman

I mean, the arrogance of agriculture: we should hunt and gather the way God intended — PolitiTweet.org

Paul Krugman @paulkrugman

RT @nytopinion: From @PaulKrugman: The Grinch who didn’t steal Christmas, and other surprises.  https://t.co/kze8BlQ8qd — PolitiTweet.org

Paul Krugman @paulkrugman

RT @drvolts: In a world full of creepy shit, nothing is creepier than the right-wing obsession with AOC. Every time she appears they parade… — PolitiTweet.org

Paul Krugman @paulkrugman

RT @DavidBeckworth: Joined by @paulkrugman to discuss 'Year of Inflation Infamy'. Great conversation covering a lot of ground: past episode… — PolitiTweet.org

Paul Krugman @paulkrugman

Accompanied by a map that helpfully includes Route 1 and the Quaker Bridge Mall 2/ https://t.co/kuewQwMVeb — PolitiTweet.org

Paul Krugman @paulkrugman

Aha. There's a really good account in David Hackett Fischer's "Washington's Crossing" 1/ https://t.co/0E0ZCLf1hG — PolitiTweet.org

Paul Krugman @paulkrugman

The thing is, money does sometimes "go to hell" — but always in the context of intense political disorder, usually civil war and social collapse. So you have to think of this guy logging on to the Internet to get access to his funds 2/ https://t.co/cZ1bBr343b — PolitiTweet.org

Paul Krugman @paulkrugman

Why do crypto prices keep rising even though Bitcoin was created 13 years ago and still has almost no legitimate uses? Because of this kind of thinking 1/ https://t.co/ltJ90vhrGw — PolitiTweet.org

Paul Krugman @paulkrugman

But that was true before. What's striking about Covid is that it hasn't changed the forces of geographic unequalization and may have reinforced them 9/ — PolitiTweet.org

Paul Krugman @paulkrugman

The main limit to this process, as far as I can tell, is housing: NIMBYism is a huge force making places like NYC (and, of course, CA even worse) unaffordable. People may be more productive and, it turns out, safer in big coastal metros, but can't afford housing 8/ — PolitiTweet.org

Paul Krugman @paulkrugman

So disease won't be a factor deterring the relative rise of highly educated metros. If anything it might be a factor going the other way, bc highly educated areas aren't just more vaxxed, they're more supportive of science-based public health measures 7/ — PolitiTweet.org

Paul Krugman @paulkrugman

At a guess FL will soon be reporting higher case rates than NY state; Miami already past NYC despite doing only about 1/4 as much testing. And given lower vax rates, this will probably mean more, maybe a lot more, hospitalizations and death in red states soon 6/ — PolitiTweet.org

Paul Krugman @paulkrugman

And with the coming of the vaccines the correlation went into reverse, bc highly educated metros are also highly vaxxed. For a little while Omicron seemed to be replaying the initial story, but that's going away fast as Omicron surges in the south. 5/ — PolitiTweet.org

Paul Krugman @paulkrugman

But while Covid killed a lot of people in the NYC area in the early months, that turns out to have been mainly about arriving there first at a time when we didn't know enough about ways to cope. The correlation btw density and death soon vanished 4/ — PolitiTweet.org

Paul Krugman @paulkrugman

Then came the virus, and for a little while people thought "density=death", and hence that the trend would reverse — although even then such movement as took place was largely to suburbs and exurbs of the big metros 3/ — PolitiTweet.org

Paul Krugman @paulkrugman

Until Covid came along we were looking at a clear — and in some ways troubling — bifurcation of US economic geography. A knowledge economy "wanted" to concentrate in large, highly educated metros, leaving much of the heartland stranded 2/ — PolitiTweet.org

Paul Krugman @paulkrugman

Obviously this is a subjective take (which is fine!) but there are multiple reasons now to believe that reports of NYC's death were greatly exaggerated — and that's part of a larger story 1/ https://t.co/6ww14qvSBf — PolitiTweet.org

Paul Krugman @paulkrugman

I know hospitalizations are a lagging indicator. But this still seems like useful context for that scary article about Puerto Rico https://t.co/IIpbjBhZ3g — PolitiTweet.org

Paul Krugman @paulkrugman

And Miami-Dade's average daily case count per 100K now exceeds NYC's. — PolitiTweet.org

Paul Krugman @paulkrugman

My mixed-race household had black-eyed peas and greens earlier today https://t.co/joDkUg31Zz — PolitiTweet.org

Paul Krugman @paulkrugman

RT @JamesSurowiecki: "I know we're suing you to stop a vax/testing requirement that would have reduced the number of Texans who are in the… — PolitiTweet.org