All posts tagged "paul krugman"

Nobel winner delivers scathing Musk takedown: 'Blood of millions of children on his hands'

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."

Musk "fed USAID to the wood chipper," and "more or less personally set out to destroy this aid agency, set out to cut off healthcare, nutritional assistance, just basic necessities of life for millions and millions of extremely desperate people," Krugman said, adding that "he did so callously, carelessly."

Krugman continued, saying, "I mean, really evil and really incompetent on enormous scales, and why aren't people talking about it more?"

USAID was "the principal channel for aid to the most desperate, poorest people in the world," Krugman continued. Cuts by Musk have "led to millions of unnecessary deaths, including millions of children," Krugman added, saying the point was proven by studies, health models, and "field evidence of widespread death as a result of the cancellation."

He described Musk as "quite evil," and "very much like Trump, somebody who can dish it out, but can't take it, can't even handle the kind of criticism that any public figure should expect to receive," Krugman said.

On Holding Elon Musk Accountable by Paul Krugman

Why aren't we talking more about DOGE?

Read on Substack

Scathing mockery as Jeff Bezos eyes sale of massive yacht carved with wife's face and body

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.

These billionaires wanted free rein. But that hasn't withstood public perception, Krugman argued.

"By the way, charitable giving has dropped way off," Krugman explained. "The super wealthy are just not doing the kind of reputation enhancing philanthropic giving that their predecessors in the Gilded Age engaged in. So this is a completely amoral elite, I got it, you don’t, I’m in power, I’m friends with the people who hold ultimate power, I don’t have to worry, I don’t care what you think."

"But it’s not lasting," Krugman wrote. "It turns out, and this is why I think this is somewhat important, it turns out that the backlash is powerful enough, scary enough at least to worry them."

That has changed as the Trump administration's popularity has waned.

"I don’t think that people like Bezos are actually scared that the torches and pitchforks are coming for them, but they are starting to realize that maybe they haven’t purchased themselves total immunity the way they thought they had. And this is, I think, a good sign. We need more hypocritical billionaires," Krugman wrote.

"OK, we need fewer billionaires and we need to work on that. But in the meantime having them feel at least somewhat disciplined by the public opprobrium that outrageous behavior brings is a good thing. More ostracism, more boycotts, sneering at and yelling at giant yachts and people who own them is a good thing," he added.

Bezos could sell the mega yacht and ultimately use that wealth to benefit good causes. However, it's not clear what he will do.

"But in any case I think there’s something culturally going on," Krugman wrote. "I think we are seeing a turn and we’re seeing that the collapse of all standards in favor of the belief that wealth is the only thing that matters is not complete and may even be reversible."

Don't Cry for Jeff Bezos's Yacht by Paul Krugman

He's selling it to avoid attention. Good.

Read on Substack

Trapped Trump has US on verge of its 'worst strategic defeat in history': analysis

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.

The outcome is predetermined — unless Trump crosses into war crimes territory, Krugman added.

"How will this end? Unless Trump is willing to commit massive war crimes — and the U.S. military goes along — it will end with the non-deal that was already on the table weeks ago: America ends its blockade while Iran opens the Strait. Iran will emerge poorer but strategically stronger," he wrote. "And America will have suffered its worst strategic defeat in history as a result of a completely gratuitous misadventure to please Trump's ego."

Krugman's concluding question cuts to the heart of the crisis.

"The question now is: how much destruction will the world, and America, have to bear before Trump is willing to accept reality?"

Nobel winner sounds alarm over Hegseth's 'loyalty tests': 'Should terrify every American'

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.

More recently, Hegseth ruled that military personnel would be allowed the right to refuse a flu vaccine, a decision which has been criticized by Nobel Prize winner Paul Krugman.

Krugman believes these recent directives have undermined the US military standards and that they instead provide a service to President Donald Trump and, by extension, Hegseth.

Krugman wrote in his Substack, "This isn’t simply about vaccines and facial hair. These directives are part of a larger project, another step in Hegseth’s drive to cultify the US military. What do I mean by cultifying the military? I mean creating an environment in which professional integrity, military discipline, and historical precedent are destroyed in service to the personality cult of Donald Trump and his enforcer, Pete Hegseth.

"Think of these directives as loyalty tests. Hegseth can indulge his faux concerns about liberty while aligning himself with the science-hating right. If you are an officer concerned about the welfare of your troops and voice your concerns, you are out. Mention that the directive against beards is nonsensical and disproportionately harms black male soldiers with a common skin condition, then you are a woke weakling and are sent packing.

"If you are a general in possession of critical skills and hard-won experience, but served during the Biden administration, you will be unceremoniously fired.

"Simply put, the method in Hegseth’s apparent madness is to destroy the integrity of the professional military corps through destructive and despotic behavior that drives out those – like Admiral Holsey – who hold to their principles.

"And this should terrify every American. A powerful military always poses a potential threat to democracy. To keep that threat in check, the military must be presided over by an officer corps that understands that its duty is not to any one person, but to the Constitution and the rule of law. The U.S. military has been largely insulated from political influence since the nation’s founding. But Hegseth is trying to subvert that."

Trump 'incapable' of accepting US has lost the war with Iran: Nobel laureate

President Donald Trump has lost the war with Iran but is refusing to accept it, according to a Nobel Prize winner.

Paul Krugman believes that Trump is flat out unable to deal with the fallout of the war in Iran, and that it has not yet set in that the United States' intervention in the Middle East has failed. Writing in his Substack earlier Saturday, Krugman claimed, "It’s been clear for a while that the United States has basically lost this war.

"The goal was to achieve regime change, possibly to take Iran’s uranium. Neither of those is going to happen. The Iranian regime is a harder line than it was before. Iran has ended up strengthened because it’s demonstrated its ability to shut off traffic through the Strait of Hormuz.

"Well, as best I can tell, and this is all speculation now, I don’t think that Trump has taken on board, maybe he’s emotionally incapable of taking on board the reality that he screwed up, that he took us to war and lost, that he, in his mind, still thinks that America has the upper hand and that the Iranians are cowering in fear over the might of the U.S. military, and that he doesn’t need to make any concessions."

The Strait of Hormuz had briefly been opened by Iran but was again closed over a US blockade. A new closure of the Strait of Hormuz was confirmed by Iranian military operational command, Khatam Al Anbiya, with a statement accusing the US of "maritime piracy and theft".

The statement reads, "For this reason, control of the Strait of Hormuz has reverted to its previous state, and this strategic waterway is under the strict management and control of the armed forces."

"Until the US restores the complete freedom of navigation for vessels from an Iranian origin to a destination, and from a destination back to Iran, the situation in the Strait of Hormuz will remain strictly controlled and in its previous state."

President Trump previously imposed a naval blockade of the Strait of Hormuz as part of his escalating Iran war strategy, declaring he would "immediately eliminate" Iranian Navy vessels attempting to breach it.

Trump sabotaged America and handed its enemy a massive gift: Nobel-winning economist

Nobel laureate and economist Paul Krugman described on Tuesday how President Donald Trump's move to pursue the Iran war at the expense of Americans who now face rising oil prices has made China the real winner.

Krugman wrote in his Substack that Trump's decision could put potential oil and gas shortages on the horizon that ultimately benefit Chinese electrotech.

"Donald Trump wants to stop the renewable energy revolution. But he can’t — it will continue to advance around the world because the economics and the science are compelling," Krugman wrote. "Trump can, however, ensure that the revolution passes us by. And the big geopolitical winner from Trump’s hostility to the energy revolution will be China, which dominates the production of renewable-energy infrastructure."

Instead of pushing the U.S. closer to embracing renewable energy, Trump has done the opposite.

"Furthermore, the China-led energy future will arrive ahead of schedule thanks to the debacle in Iran," Krugman explained.

China has made major investments in renewables, and its notable "green industrial complex" outpaces the U.S. and the Trump administration's climate denialists who don't seem to see how much things have changed — even with March marking the hottest month on record. As the Strait of Hormuz remains closed, it leaves the U.S. particularly vulnerable to falling behind, with the "perception that relying on U.S. oil and LNG, which is what countries will have to do if they don’t turn to solar and wind, isn’t safe."

"So Trump’s adventurism in Iran has sparked a global rush to invest in solar power, wind power, and the batteries that make renewable energy work 24/7," Krugman added. "And where will the world procure most of the renewable energy equipment it seeks? From China. China is the workshop of the world. Its manufacturing sector is larger than those of the U.S., Japan, Germany and South Korea combined."

As the world shifts from fossil fuel use amid rapid climate change, the U.S. could fall further behind.

"Yet it’s sad to watch this country sabotage itself and cede the most important industry of the future to China," Krugman wrote. "In doing so, we make ourselves poorer, technologically backward, and less influential in a world that is speeding towards the energy revolution. In the end, we aren’t just burning fossil fuels; we’re also burning our future."

Nobel winner says Trump just made 'America's weakness' clear with one foolish move

Donald Trump's recent comments on Truth Social and during a speech addressing the war with Iran have made the United States look foolish, a Nobel Prize winner claimed.

Paul Krugman believes the president has made America look like a laughing stock in recent weeks. But the long-term damage of doing so makes Trump's administration an unreliable ally to world leaders who would previously be reassured by the US as an ally. Not anymore, according to the veteran economist, who says the recent statements made by Trump have undermined America's world standing.

Writing in his Substack, Krugman suggested Trump's rhetoric has not only severed close ties with friendly nations but emboldened other, more aggressive countries to take action.

"Think about Gulf states that relied on America to protect them and preserve their access to world markets," he wrote. "Now they know that we can’t and won’t, while Iran holds a knife at their throats."

"They’re now looking to themselves for security — and starting to buy equipment and technology from Ukraine, which has learned the hard way how to fight a modern war.

"Think about Asian and European nations that have swallowed Trump’s many insults, and mostly avoided retaliating against his tariffs, because they feared both U.S. power and the loss of U.S. support. Now America’s weakness and unreliability have been laid bare."

Krugman went on to suggest previous statements made by Trump, and Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, had worsened the war. Trump's comments on the importance of oil have only made it harder for his administration, the veteran economist suggested.

"In Trump’s mind, control over fossil fuels is the essence of national greatness," Krugman wrote. "In his inaugural address, Trump declared that 'We will drill, baby, drill … We will be a rich nation again, and it is that liquid gold under our feet that will help to do it.'"

"But this was obvious nonsense. For one thing, the narrative that woke environmentalists had hobbled U.S. fossil fuel production was at odds with the reality that fracking had in fact caused a boom in oil and gas production that began under Obama and continued under Republican and Democratic administrations alike."

"Trump has been doing all he can to block development of wind and solar power, in the apparent belief that this will empower America. But what it actually does is empower regimes that are in a position to disrupt world oil supply, while having little to lose from chaos in the world economy. Which means, above all, Iran."

Nobel-winning expert drops major warning about metric that 'has come to a screeching halt'

The economy could be set for a harsh reality check because of one issue highlighted by a Nobel Prize winner.

Paul Krugman suggests that while the unemployment figures under Donald Trump's administration remained relatively typical, the anti-immigration policies of his team will cause a rupture further down the line. The economist, writing in his Substack, suggested the policy of barring immigration to open up jobs for native-born Americans had failed.

He wrote, "One way to think about what is happening is that we’ve stopped gaining jobs, but we’ve also stopped adding workers, so unemployment hasn’t risen a lot. But one can also turn this around and say that as a result of anti-immigrant policies we’ve stopped adding workers, but we have also stopped gaining jobs."

"This is bad news for anyone who believed the predictions of immigration opponents. They claimed that cracking down on immigration would open up more jobs for native-born Americans, but this hasn’t happened. In fact, the unemployment rate for native-born workers has gone up under Trump, although not drastically."

"There’s also another way in which the plunge in breakeven employment growth is bad news: It makes America’s already problematic fiscal outlook considerably worse, because future tax receipts depend on future economic growth — and economic growth will be much slower with zero growth in the labor force than it would have been with growing labor supply."

Krugman went on to suggest the aims of the administration were strained further by a poor economy, which Trump's team has turned a blind eye to.

"One point in particular that’s relevant given where we are politically: Donald Trump, Pete Hegseth and others envision a world of perpetual U.S. military dominance," he wrote. "But how can we maintain that dominance if, as the plunge in breakeven job growth suggests, we’ve entered an era of basically zero growth in our workforce?

"So when it comes to jobs, the bad news is that job growth has come to a screeching halt. The good news is that this hasn’t caused surging unemployment."

"But the bad news within the good news is that the disconnect between job growth and unemployment reflects a collapse in the inflow of immigrants, which is really bad for economic growth and America’s position in the world."

Nobel winner says Trump's new 'motive' admission will make war crimes trial 'no problem'

Economist and Nobel laureate Paul Krugman warned that President Donald Trump's serious threat that "a whole civilization will die tonight" in his latest escalation of the Iran war would lead to lasting damage for the United States.

In his Substack on Tuesday, Krugman suggested "the civilization we destroy may be our own" and that Trump had made a major admission with his comments. He called it America's "darkest hour" yet.

"Not going to be a problem if we ever do get the war crimes trial that all of this deserves. A statement of motive, intent is completely clear," Krugman wrote, describing how Trump's words could be used to prosecute him in the future if he does what he has threatened to do.

He also argued that Trump administration officials and military service members should be ready to make a decision.

"First of all, any military commander given orders to start destroying civilian infrastructure in Iran should disobey that order, should say it, should not even quietly resign," Krugman wrote. "This is a time to stand up and make it clear that this is totally unacceptable. This is a violation of everything that the military stands for. It’s a violation of everything that America stands for."

"Second, any member of the Trump administration: to continue in your position doing your job as Trump takes America on the course of becoming a criminal nation, a criminal terrorist nation, you cannot continue in good conscience," he added.

Krugman suggested that Trump's ultimatum has left only questions.

"Damned if I know what’s going to happen," Krugman wrote. "I mean, at some level, I think that the civilization that may be destroyed tonight is our own. I mean, are we civilized if we do this kind of thing? If America as a nation doesn’t stand up against this, what are we?"

"So, God help us. Normal life will continue. It’s going to be a really weird thing to be out there, you know, grocery shopping and taking the subway and all of those things. But this is, in a way, the defining moment. The fate of the whole American idea is on the line. I have no idea how this ends."

Nobel winner warns Trump planning 'truly awful' act — and demands his immediate removal

A Nobel Prize-winner has called for the 25th Amendment to be invoked against Donald Trump following a series of failures.

Paul Krugman suggested Trump knows the war in Iran is now a lost cause, but that the president would not pull out of the conflict. Speaking in a post published to his Substack, Krugman suggested the only way out may be to invoke the 25th Amendment. That would force Trump from office and pass presidential powers and duties to Vice President JD Vance.

Krugman said, "This is really bad. It’s hard to see what happens in 48 hours. It’s clear that Trump, for all his pretense of, 'I’m always winning,' is aware of how completely he screwed things up, that he’s aware that he has basically led America into an epic strategic defeat.

"I don’t think he cares about that from the point of view of America, but he is realizing what this has done to him — that he will probably quite rapidly lose his grip on U.S. politics, and certainly to the extent that he cares about his legacy, it’s not going to be his wonderful ballroom.

"It’s going to be that he’s the man who single-handedly led America to one of its greatest defeats ever. But now what? It would be one thing if he just kind of slunk away into the night, which is what we would have hoped would happen, but instead it sounds like he’s unable to accept it and that he is going to try and do something truly awful in an attempt to somehow redeem himself and the situation.

"If we had a functioning democracy, this would be 25th Amendment time. This guy should not have any authority at all. Finger on the button, although I don’t think we’re talking about nukes, but he shouldn’t have any authority on matters of state violence when this is the kind of mood he’s in.

"Just in general, although religiosity is often expected of American leaders, saying glory be to God before you unleash violence, that is not what used to be the American way."

Krugman went on to warn against Trump's current tone and his lackluster speeches. "On Wednesday, Trump gave a speech, which was... pretty depressing. He was low energy, listless, and seemed to be disconnected from reality, insisting that everything is going great in this war and everything is going great across the board.

"Anyway, I’m scared. I wonder very much what the next few days will bring because this is looking like basically a president who is losing it and unfortunately losing it in a way that can really make the world a much worse place very fast."