All posts tagged "Paul Krugman"

Nobel-winning economist Paul Krugman offered a scathing review of Trump's recent threat against a key American ally.

In March, Trump warned of a complete trade cutoff with Spain after the country refused to allow U.S. military bases for operations against Iran. Even though Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez was unfazed, Trump again threatened to ignite a trade war with Spain during an outburst at the NATO summit in Turkey.

"It was completely crazy," Krugman said in a Substack post on Wednesday. "This is not something that is real, except that the President of the United States did say this."...

A Nobel-winning economist sounded the alarm on a Supreme Court ruling that he fears isn't getting enough attention.

Paul Krugman wrote in a Wednesday Substack piece that after the Supreme Court wrapped up its term, more attention was going towards its defeat of Trump's attempt to end birthright citizenship than a more 'astonishing' decision in the case of Trump v. Slaughter.

"Various MAGA-adjacent parties, along with willfully blind centrists, are trying to sweep this ruling under the rug, hoping that the public doesn't understand its meaning," Krugman wrote. "The Court has now stripped regulatory agencies of their independence from Trump's whims and corrupt practices."...

A Nobel laureate held the world's richest man Elon Musk responsible for the deaths of millions of children in a scathing takedown.

Renowned economist Paul Krugman called Musk "a horrible, terrible person" in a recent episode of his podcast. Krugman mostly focused on Musk's cuts to USAID while in the Trump administration.

"For most of last year, Elon Musk was the second most powerful man in America," Krugman explained. "He was running a large part of the government's budget, and during that time, he established a track record of evil incompetence."...

Billionaire Jeff Bezos was mocked on Tuesday after news that the Amazon founder has reportedly grown "unhappy" with the attention his 417-foot yacht — which has a carved sculpture of his second wife, Lauren Sanchez — has brought him and now wants to sell it.

Nobel Prize-winning economist Paul Krugman described Bezos' decision on his Substack, and the symbolism behind a billionaire having buyer's remorse, especially amid President Donald Trump's second term and just hours after Bezos and Sanchez helped host the Met Gala on Monday night in New York City. He noted that Bezos, who was among those celebrating Trump's second rise to power and wanted "all restraints off" and "to live the privilege of their great wealth," might not have the same feelings now.

"And I think if you look at the first year or so of the second Trump administration, the people at the top, Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, Mark Zuckerberg, they all were acting as if OK, no need to apologize, no need to pretend to be good," Krugman wrote. ...

Nobel Prize-winning economist Paul Krugman has delivered a devastating assessment of Donald Trump's Iran war: the president is steering the United States toward humiliating defeat, and the only way out requires acknowledging a loss his fragile ego will never permit.

According to Krugman, there is no viable path to reopening the Strait of Hormuz without accepting terms dictated by Iran — a reality that will leave the U.S. economy held hostage to Trump's reckless military adventurism.

"Realistically, the only way to reopen the Strait of Hormuz is for both sides to stand down — for Iran to lift its de facto embargo on shipping through the Strait, while the U.S. lifts its blockade on Iranian shipping," Krugman wrote.

"Such a mutual stand-down wouldn't require negotiating a formal deal, nor would it require that either regime trust the other. All it needs is for both sides to stop doing what they are doing."

Instead of accepting this straightforward resolution, Krugman identified three obstacles blocking peace: "Trump's ego, his ignorance, and the Iranians' unfortunately justified belief that any agreement they reach with America would be effectively worthless."

The economist described how Trump's psychological inability to accept defeat is driving policy.

"Trump's ego is so fragile that he can never admit losing. He cannot bear to face up to the reality that he, more or less single-handedly, led America to the greatest strategic defeat in its history. So he desperately wants to extract concessions from Iran that would lend him a fig leaf and allow him to claim victory," he explained.

According to Krugman, Trump's inner circle is amplifying the delusion and "those delusions are reinforced by the people that Trump has surrounded himself with – people who tell him how well the war is going in order to flatter his ego. Consequently, Trump is clearly the worst informed president in modern history about the actual state of America at war."

Iran understands America's weakness. Iranian leaders recognize that the Hormuz standoff is inflicting damage on both the U.S. and global economies. The country's leaders also know Trump faces what appears to be a major electoral defeat in November, driven by American anger over the war, its economic devastation and the president's relentless lying....

Pete Hegseth's new directives for US military personnel are undermining the standard set by previous administrations, a Nobel Prize winner has argued.

Hegseth has implemented a contentious grooming standards directive that authorizes military members to receive government-funded laser hair removal treatments while restricting eyelash extensions and certain nail polishes, justified "in support of Army readiness."

Hegseth announced a ban on military personnel attending graduate programs at nearly two dozen elite universities including Harvard, MIT, Princeton, Yale, and Georgetown, which he characterized as bastions of "wokeness" and "wicked ideologies" in February....