When you realize that tens of millions get their news from tweets and other shallow sources like tv, it's not surprising politicians think they can fool most of the people most of the time.
181
Trump is all façade. His tweets are adolescent. That's what seems to sell to, unfortunately. Many Americans dislike well educated, sensitive people because they wrong headedly think they will not be represented. Just look back at Trump marching around with his baseball hat on and open shirt so that he can look like one of the guys and you'll begin to understand how smoke and mirrors can carry him to the throne. Throw in a phoney New York Cabby's accent and he's just one of the guys. That is his appeal. Just one of the guys! What guy watching Football at a sports bar wouldn't like to grab the women he claims he did? I get that non-thinking, but what I don't get is how women voted for a brute like him. His name calling is childish but he uses it without a care. His latest is calling the Senate Minority leader a clown. In a world where Putin is a good guy in his mind and Chuck Schumer is a clown, something is wrong! His policy is he has no policy! Remember "The Age of Reason?" We have now entered "The Age of Fantasy!" As Shakespeare said: "His words are a very fantastical banquet, just so many strange dishes." He may yet choke on them. I only hope it may be before he hurts millions of us!
106
I was astounded by the publicity regarding Trump's claimed glorious rescue of 800 jobs at Carrier and 700 jobs at Ford. Trump made sure the publicity proved to his followers that he is their savior. I don't doubt that Fox News focused on this HUGE news. What about the 218 Macy's, Sears and Kmart stores closing with the loss of more than 10,000 jobs?? How is Trump going to save all the U.S. retail stores with his GREAT DEALS as they rapidly close due to the rise of internet shopping (which require many fewer human employees)?
At least with Hilary, the minimum wage might have been raised and her understanding and experience with foreign affairs may have saved us from nuclear disaster (Trump's ignorance in this area is absolutely terrifying). In the meantime, jobs lost to manufacturing require workers to keep up with rapid technological changes and a service-based economy through training and education, not continue to believe Trump that the assembly line will return (which are being replaced by robots). Hence the difference between real economic policy and fake policy.
Oh, I could go on.....haven't even talked about the ACA which the Republicans and Fox news have convinced Trump followers that it was a DISASTER by saying it over and over and over.......but I digress.
At least with Hilary, the minimum wage might have been raised and her understanding and experience with foreign affairs may have saved us from nuclear disaster (Trump's ignorance in this area is absolutely terrifying). In the meantime, jobs lost to manufacturing require workers to keep up with rapid technological changes and a service-based economy through training and education, not continue to believe Trump that the assembly line will return (which are being replaced by robots). Hence the difference between real economic policy and fake policy.
Oh, I could go on.....haven't even talked about the ACA which the Republicans and Fox news have convinced Trump followers that it was a DISASTER by saying it over and over and over.......but I digress.
123
The media MUST stop reporting Trumps tweets as news.
First, how does the media even know Trump is the person doing the tweeting?
The best the media should do is say "Trump tweeted but did not speak on the matter." And don't publish the tweet, since you can't verify its source in this new age of cyber warfare.
First, how does the media even know Trump is the person doing the tweeting?
The best the media should do is say "Trump tweeted but did not speak on the matter." And don't publish the tweet, since you can't verify its source in this new age of cyber warfare.
139
Here we go...It's not Jan. 20th yet, but it's getting off to a great start.
Hold on to your hats because here we go.
Hold on to your hats because here we go.
26
Maybe we should retire the new buzz term "fake news". Aren't we really talking - again - about tendentious "lies"?
142
The news media can go a long way to restoring their standing by actually asking important questions at Trump's 11 January press conference...we shall see.
35
Only in America, would the evil GOP be able to convince ignorant GOP voters that health care, is not good for them...
57
Prof. Krugman doesn't get it when he write " many jobs disappearing even as still more new jobs are created"
The economic reality is
Many good paying jobs disappearing even as still more new, low paying service jobs are cr manufacturing created.
The economic reality is
Many good paying jobs disappearing even as still more new, low paying service jobs are cr manufacturing created.
23
"a mind so shallow as to be all surface."
This quote can describe any narcissist. But I think it fits the Donald perfectly. It's all PR (Public Relations) for this man. It's all about surface optics. Put on a show with Carrier, Ford, and GM. Make it look like he's doing something. It's like what Mr. Egan said in another column " like the orange haired rooster taking credit for the coming dawn". I'd laugh out loud (LOL)...but I really can't. It's too sad to contemplate that this man will become POTUS.
This quote can describe any narcissist. But I think it fits the Donald perfectly. It's all PR (Public Relations) for this man. It's all about surface optics. Put on a show with Carrier, Ford, and GM. Make it look like he's doing something. It's like what Mr. Egan said in another column " like the orange haired rooster taking credit for the coming dawn". I'd laugh out loud (LOL)...but I really can't. It's too sad to contemplate that this man will become POTUS.
52
Yes, all true.
5
Dr. K, I am a huge fan of you and your columns, but I cringe when you use a word like "rube" that conveys disdain for working class people. Such disdain feeds the resentment that divides our country.
72
"Repealing the Affordable Care Act, which would snatch away hundreds of billions in insurance subsidies to low- and middle-income families and cause around 30 million people to lose coverage, would certainly qualify [as real policy]."
I won’t accuse you of fake news but your love for the ACA is myopically dependent on the 30 million covered. You mislead us by ignoring the enormous costs to individual families — even those with subsidies — and the overall economy.
For example, based on a 50K annual income for family of four, the average out-of-pocket costs for silver plans on the small business market: $276 per month ($3,309 per year in premiums (which equals 6.62% of household income).
https://www.google.com/webhp?sourceid=chrome-instant&ion=1&espv=...
What is not immediately available on the Kaiser Family Foundation website is the small fortune a family must spend on health care (aka one’s deductible) before the insurance kicks in.
Average medical deductible for family of four is $4,946. Total cost for health care = $7995 per year or 16% of gross income. Outrageous.
https://www.google.com/webhp?sourceid=chrome instant&ion=1&espv=2&ie=UTF-8#q=obamacare%20silver%20plan%20deductible
Because the deductible is so high, many forego treatment altogether.
HRC’s — and your — allegiance to the ACA was one reason she lost the vote of middle America, for whom the real news about the real numbers just doesn't add up.
I won’t accuse you of fake news but your love for the ACA is myopically dependent on the 30 million covered. You mislead us by ignoring the enormous costs to individual families — even those with subsidies — and the overall economy.
For example, based on a 50K annual income for family of four, the average out-of-pocket costs for silver plans on the small business market: $276 per month ($3,309 per year in premiums (which equals 6.62% of household income).
https://www.google.com/webhp?sourceid=chrome-instant&ion=1&espv=...
What is not immediately available on the Kaiser Family Foundation website is the small fortune a family must spend on health care (aka one’s deductible) before the insurance kicks in.
Average medical deductible for family of four is $4,946. Total cost for health care = $7995 per year or 16% of gross income. Outrageous.
https://www.google.com/webhp?sourceid=chrome instant&ion=1&espv=2&ie=UTF-8#q=obamacare%20silver%20plan%20deductible
Because the deductible is so high, many forego treatment altogether.
HRC’s — and your — allegiance to the ACA was one reason she lost the vote of middle America, for whom the real news about the real numbers just doesn't add up.
40
Hey Paul, let's get down to specifics. When does the NYT stop reporting every tweet, every job saved, every bit of nonsense spewed from the president elect (or for that matter, any such nonsense, from anyone)? When does the NYT resume it's post as the leader in responsible journalism?
89
Mr. Krugman,
Your column forgot to factor in Trump's egregious lying and denials of truth, another form of lying.
Your column forgot to factor in Trump's egregious lying and denials of truth, another form of lying.
63
A worker whose job has disappeared because of automation and globalization yearns like all of us for a bit of good news. He figures that, if the Donald can save 800 jobs at Carrier, maybe he can save 8 million jobs at 10,000 other places and maybe I will have a job again. Just like the story about the dog who fell though the ice and was saved by some firemen, the Carrier story is a human interest story, "Trump saves Joe's job-- here is a photo of Joe celebrating Christmas with his handicapped daughter." Hope springs eternal. If you tell someone they have a terrible cancer, but that there is a treatment that has a 5% chance of success, he immediately grabs onto that and figures that he will be among that 5%. Telling people the hard macroeconomic truth is a dirty job, a thankless job, but here is a thank you from me.
188
Mr. Krugman, we have to deal with questionable, and inaccurate media - why are you so surprised and upset about fake policy. I'm still waiting for the news media to begin reporting the news accurately. The President elect may be tweeting fake policy, but at least we don't have to have the media's spin!
4
Note to 75,000 people who lost their job yesterday:
Worried about putting food on the table, clothing the kids, utility bills, car payment, mortgage payment?
Not to worry it's just a rounding error.
Ah, life in the academy
Worried about putting food on the table, clothing the kids, utility bills, car payment, mortgage payment?
Not to worry it's just a rounding error.
Ah, life in the academy
8
Does anyone reading this column believe that Mr. Trump, the "billionaire" businessman is going to save the American economy from Doom? Of course not, those who are capable of reading anything longer than a tweet understand phony information. But in our democracy 60+million who voted for Trump still believe all the lies and false news dished out by Trump and his supporters. How do we educate the uneducable, starting with Donald Trump himself?
And, btw everything Donald Trump has said during the campaign has turned out to be a lie. We were told that he would reveal info he has, "by Tuesday or Wednesday", "which no one else knows" why Russia was not the source of all the DNC email hacks/leaks. It's Friday, what is this info that no one else knows???? IT has been said that there is a sucker born every minute, and Donald Trump has suckered more than 60 million voters. Yikes!!!!
Now the real question is whether Donald Trump is really a "successful" billionaire or just a successful huckster who not only doesn't own billions in assets, but instead owes more than he actually owns
And, btw everything Donald Trump has said during the campaign has turned out to be a lie. We were told that he would reveal info he has, "by Tuesday or Wednesday", "which no one else knows" why Russia was not the source of all the DNC email hacks/leaks. It's Friday, what is this info that no one else knows???? IT has been said that there is a sucker born every minute, and Donald Trump has suckered more than 60 million voters. Yikes!!!!
Now the real question is whether Donald Trump is really a "successful" billionaire or just a successful huckster who not only doesn't own billions in assets, but instead owes more than he actually owns
19
Anyone have some extra cash to invest? Donald Trump wants to build a wall. Mexico will pay for it, believe me. Oh and you'll get a beautiful embossed inauguration mug as a gift. A real collectors' item,
14
Here's a suggestion for a headline. "75,000 jobs lost today. Trump claims to have saved 800". Its true, why not state it?
19
Trump has no economic or political philosophy. He just watches TV and goes on social media. That's it. When he speaks you hear a man with little interest in policy ideas or rational decision making. He's essentially Chauncey Gardiner without the humility or kindness of heart.
16
Someone at the NYTimes should ask Stanley Fish what he thinks about Trump's rhetoric. The received wisdom is that Trump is an idiot and a boob, perhaps because rhetoric and argument are about persuasion and Trump does not appear to be engaging in argument or persuasion. One of the very best analysts of rhetoric in the country is Stanley Fish. Ask him what's going on.
1
The media failed in an epic manner during the election. Why would we believe that they would change now and who cares? The "main stream media" is now a disaster. A puppet for the conman in chief. Why any respectable person would get news from them now defies belief.
8
Nailed it again. Trumpism is flim-flam showmanship, in which the media is played like a tin whistle, layered over failed right wing policies that do nothing, really, to help the lower and middle classes - and in fact, do them harm. The triumph of rhetoric over reality.
25
Given Krugman's admitted penchant for biased journalism (especially after the election) I'm not sure we can trust the self declared "Conscious of a Liberal". I'm glad he stopped referring to Trump voters as "uneducated voters" and now calls then "working class". This is an improvement for the Liberal Elite haters who follow him at the NYT.
In Krugman's September 19, 2016 Article, Krugman parrots for Hillary Clinton against a vote for Sanders in the primary:
"Meanwhile, Mrs. Clinton has staked out the most progressive policy positions ever advocated by a presidential candidate. There’s no reason to believe that these positions are insincere, that she would revert to 1990s policies in office: What some are now calling the “new liberal economics” has sunk deep roots in the Democratic Party, and dominates the ranks of Mrs. Clinton’s advisers."
Ridiculous. Clinton's own words and e mails admit she had "two positions", one public for nitwits like Krugman to parrot, which he dutiful did again and again as a Hillary shill, and one for private, like her Wall Street supporters.
I don't trust him on economics one bit. His credibility is less than zero at this point, and in the same league as Blow. Maybe stick to name calling and vitriol?
In Krugman's September 19, 2016 Article, Krugman parrots for Hillary Clinton against a vote for Sanders in the primary:
"Meanwhile, Mrs. Clinton has staked out the most progressive policy positions ever advocated by a presidential candidate. There’s no reason to believe that these positions are insincere, that she would revert to 1990s policies in office: What some are now calling the “new liberal economics” has sunk deep roots in the Democratic Party, and dominates the ranks of Mrs. Clinton’s advisers."
Ridiculous. Clinton's own words and e mails admit she had "two positions", one public for nitwits like Krugman to parrot, which he dutiful did again and again as a Hillary shill, and one for private, like her Wall Street supporters.
I don't trust him on economics one bit. His credibility is less than zero at this point, and in the same league as Blow. Maybe stick to name calling and vitriol?
27
Another example was Ford cancelling a $1.5 billion factory in Mexico the other day. Turns out it is because small cars just are not selling, to quote Ford's CEO. Had nothing to do with Trump.
30
The biggest "fake" news story of the year was Hillary's email. There was never anything if substance, but the media treated it line it was.
Just like Trump "saving" 800 jobs. It Durant matter that his policies will cost millions of jobs. The media will play up the 800.
Just like Trump "saving" 800 jobs. It Durant matter that his policies will cost millions of jobs. The media will play up the 800.
35
Trump says he will produce 25,000,000 new jobs in four years. That is 75,000 per month on average. Under Obama, twice that number was produced each month on average and many more in many months. It is not newsworthy. News that is fit to print is something we as a public have left to journalists. Selling news has dominated this standard. Readers and journalists share blame in this, but there are people in powerful positions who benefit from a gullible public and a media that caters to it. Time to educate out children and our populace to be more intelligent in consuming of information. It may be more up to "us" than "them" - the journalists - to be a more scrutinizing and smarter consumer of "news", fake news, fake policy, or fake anything. We are the not the United States of Fakery and Lies. Or we should not be. Krugman and others like him need our support and patronage for "facts", factual reporting, and balanced analysis.
35
I don't think people are stupid. I think people are overwhelmed. Work is precarious. Healthcare is complicated, expensive and opaque. Getting a kid through daycare or college or an elder in assisted living is crushingly expensive and a patchwork of payments and schedules. Remember your passwords, pay every bill on time, pick up a second job and maybe a few extra family members depend on you too, since they lost their real job in the last recession, have a mental illness or disability. All they know is this is not how it used to be. But, there is Rush Limbaugh or their pastor or facebook or the nightly news giving them a worldview packaged like a McDonalds hamburger; cheap, fast, easy but not really real food. It will be hard to wake many Americans up unless the whole thing blows up; Russia takes out a million bank accounts or servers of the IRS, maybe a war with China or the gutting of New Deal programs that keep people alive. But with the corporate MSM, beaten up by the 6th grade bully President every single day, the bully is master of the message.
40
Glass houses and throwing stones come to mind when reading Mr.Krugman's column.
Perhaps readers like myself might listen to the sermon if the preacher was more blameless in his practice, but "nothing we’ve seen so far inspires optimism."
Open any newspaper, including this one, and it is full of "re-engineered" facts, slanted and one-sided views, outright lies, lies of omission and out and out propaganda.
Mainstream media is biased when it tells the truth, and biased when it tells lies.
Who would argue with the assertion that most newspapers are controlled by a bunch of billionaire tax exiles with their own self-serving agenda.
What they are really concerned about is who controls the propaganda.
Mr.Krugman, neo-liberal propagandist-in-chief, should clean up his own act first.
Mrs.Clinton was hitting the McCarthyist Russian fear bogeyman button hard during the election without any proof. This didn't stop her repeated accusations of Russian 'meddling' being reported as 'fact' by this columnist.
His relentless anti-Sanders fake news during the primaries played a big part in bringing us the Orange Presidency.
You reap what you saw, Professor.
Perhaps readers like myself might listen to the sermon if the preacher was more blameless in his practice, but "nothing we’ve seen so far inspires optimism."
Open any newspaper, including this one, and it is full of "re-engineered" facts, slanted and one-sided views, outright lies, lies of omission and out and out propaganda.
Mainstream media is biased when it tells the truth, and biased when it tells lies.
Who would argue with the assertion that most newspapers are controlled by a bunch of billionaire tax exiles with their own self-serving agenda.
What they are really concerned about is who controls the propaganda.
Mr.Krugman, neo-liberal propagandist-in-chief, should clean up his own act first.
Mrs.Clinton was hitting the McCarthyist Russian fear bogeyman button hard during the election without any proof. This didn't stop her repeated accusations of Russian 'meddling' being reported as 'fact' by this columnist.
His relentless anti-Sanders fake news during the primaries played a big part in bringing us the Orange Presidency.
You reap what you saw, Professor.
31
Too bad Trump is so good at this con, isn't it? Krugman's readership is minuscule compared to the masses of American voters. Any Trump tweet reaches many, many times as many voters as a Krugman column. The well-educated readers of the Times used to be mainly influential because of their wallets, so Times opinions counted for something in terms of moving donor dollars. But now that both Bernie and Trump neutralized well-off donors in the past campaign, the influence of Krugman readers is reduced to their relatively tiny, if influential in the old days, numbers. I write this as a progressive Bernie guy well to the left of Krugman, the great neoliberal cheerleader for Goldman's hand puppet Hillary. Anyway, Krugman's as neutered now by Trump's PR brilliance as the Times, the Post, and all the rest of the MSM. The more they attack Trump, the more Trump gives them his finger, and the more wildly popular Trump thereby becomes among the MSM-hating masses.
32
It is easy to fake the Trump base. They do not read the Times, therefore, they do not read Mr. Krugman's well-written arguments. In fact, I suspect they do not read much beyond a Tweet. Facts and reasoned arguments do not work with a base that has been decimated by job losses, poor education, and, an inescapable declining standard of living. The timeless emotional standbys are readily available for the Trump base to latch on to; xenophobia, scapegoating, authoritarianism, all in hopes of improving their lot in life. As much as i like Mr. Krugman's column, it is a mere whisper in the gathering storm.
13
I agree that the few hundred jobs that Trump claims he is saving does not compare with the thousands that are lost every day due to various market forces.
I know that the following are lower-paying jobs and not the higher-paying jobs of auto companies, but Macy's just announced that it is cutting its workforce by 10,000. The Limited is closing its stores and thousands more will be losing their jobs as well. But just because they do not pay well does not mean that these employees will be affected just as badly as others in higher paying fields who lose theirs. It might even be worse as the lower paid one is, the less you can save for a rainy day.
I know that the following are lower-paying jobs and not the higher-paying jobs of auto companies, but Macy's just announced that it is cutting its workforce by 10,000. The Limited is closing its stores and thousands more will be losing their jobs as well. But just because they do not pay well does not mean that these employees will be affected just as badly as others in higher paying fields who lose theirs. It might even be worse as the lower paid one is, the less you can save for a rainy day.
7
"This was fake policy — a show intended to impress the rubes, not to achieve real results."
That's what con men like Trump do, and why people like those interviewed for the nytimes article about Indiana, including many evangelicals who are typically unskeptical, voted for him. They fell for the con. Sad!
That's what con men like Trump do, and why people like those interviewed for the nytimes article about Indiana, including many evangelicals who are typically unskeptical, voted for him. They fell for the con. Sad!
7
I can't wait for the first CEO with the guts to Tweet Trump to "mind his own business" should Trump try to butt in.
When the supermarket checkout person tells me I saved $5.77 on my grocery bill, I usually respond by saying but I spent $78.12.
Perhaps every time Trump claims to have saved 800 jobs, the media can report that along with the tens of thousands of jobs he also lost at the same time.
When the supermarket checkout person tells me I saved $5.77 on my grocery bill, I usually respond by saying but I spent $78.12.
Perhaps every time Trump claims to have saved 800 jobs, the media can report that along with the tens of thousands of jobs he also lost at the same time.
8
Re Jan. 2 column, comments closed early, but like today’s issue:
Trump’s huge conflict of interest and violation of the emoluments clause can be seen in front page story Jan. 1. Trump branding and ownership shares are examples.
www.nytimes.com/2016/12/31/world/asia/indonesia-donald-trump-resort.html
Emolument is a broad term that includes any type of payment: the profit, salary, or fee from any employment, task performed, or service. It recognizes the old rule that he who pays the piper calls the next tune.
www.brookings.edu/research/the-emoluments-clause-its-text-meaning-and-ap...
The argument that wealthy people are immune from bribery is false; it contradicts the record. Many of the wealthy continued to be greedy and fight hard to gain more wealth and advantage. A tiger doesn’t change its stripes.
Our founders knew that a state can have only one sovereign power. That is why we need law and regulation. The greatest corruption of Trump may be an excess of deregulation (Bush/Cheney).
Comey’s impact: people respect and trust the FBI. Comey violated policy. He had to know that his impact would be the media reports of his statement. The story told in a vast array of media outlets (esp. Fox and other conservative outlets) was that the FBI now had the goods in Clinton, had new material evidence, and that she was about to be indicted. None of which was true. That story as it was told in the media was enough to tip the vote, as post-vote interviews showed
Trump’s huge conflict of interest and violation of the emoluments clause can be seen in front page story Jan. 1. Trump branding and ownership shares are examples.
www.nytimes.com/2016/12/31/world/asia/indonesia-donald-trump-resort.html
Emolument is a broad term that includes any type of payment: the profit, salary, or fee from any employment, task performed, or service. It recognizes the old rule that he who pays the piper calls the next tune.
www.brookings.edu/research/the-emoluments-clause-its-text-meaning-and-ap...
The argument that wealthy people are immune from bribery is false; it contradicts the record. Many of the wealthy continued to be greedy and fight hard to gain more wealth and advantage. A tiger doesn’t change its stripes.
Our founders knew that a state can have only one sovereign power. That is why we need law and regulation. The greatest corruption of Trump may be an excess of deregulation (Bush/Cheney).
Comey’s impact: people respect and trust the FBI. Comey violated policy. He had to know that his impact would be the media reports of his statement. The story told in a vast array of media outlets (esp. Fox and other conservative outlets) was that the FBI now had the goods in Clinton, had new material evidence, and that she was about to be indicted. None of which was true. That story as it was told in the media was enough to tip the vote, as post-vote interviews showed
11
I think I did everything I reasonably could to Keep a Democrat in the White House. I supported Bernie Sanders because Hillary Clinton was a flawed candidate (I was right Krugman was wrong). However, when Clinton won the nomination I supported her. She was a terrible candidate and she lost. Probably the only Democrat on the planet that Trump could beat. Now, would someone please explain to me why I should care if all the ignoramuses who voted for Trump lose their jobs and health insurance?
4
I find this stupefying. In just about every town and state in this nation, I assume, you can turn your radio dial to National Public Radio and in the space of a few hours while driving back and forth to wherever one goes, receive a publicly paid for, intelligible, reasonably unbiased take on the key issues of the day. If people don't want a balanced view, they won't get one, but if they do, all it takes is a radio dial. No one is helpless in this country when it comes to being informed.
16
In my view "Fake" policy of sorts, has been around for a long time. It has just become a bit more fake and a lot more dangerous because of trump and company. This includes Paul Ryan and his fake economic 'wonk' credentials. They need fake because they sure don't know real and they sure don't have any real fixes.
Trump's style of fake policy is just like trump himself. All show all facade all fake all the time. "Showy but trivial intervention" "rounding errors" perfect descriptions. The pretending part, true but scary. And yes only an intellectual country bumpkin would be impressed and fall for trumps nonsense. And it is inappropriate for a President of the USA to be micro managing a "case by case' intervention with US companies. Thank you for finally pointing that out. The NYT's should make that the lead headline in the Sunday edition.
One thing is for sure though, the scam will become more and more difficult to keep going. Just like the Ponzi scheme that trump is in reality. Trump and company will eventually paint themselves into a corner-just a matter of time.
And the media must start calling trump and company out before it is too late and before they paint themselves into a corner falling all over anyone who can generate a headline and a "this just out" "what we are just learning now" (curiosity ABC Nightly News) moment.
Trump's style of fake policy is just like trump himself. All show all facade all fake all the time. "Showy but trivial intervention" "rounding errors" perfect descriptions. The pretending part, true but scary. And yes only an intellectual country bumpkin would be impressed and fall for trumps nonsense. And it is inappropriate for a President of the USA to be micro managing a "case by case' intervention with US companies. Thank you for finally pointing that out. The NYT's should make that the lead headline in the Sunday edition.
One thing is for sure though, the scam will become more and more difficult to keep going. Just like the Ponzi scheme that trump is in reality. Trump and company will eventually paint themselves into a corner-just a matter of time.
And the media must start calling trump and company out before it is too late and before they paint themselves into a corner falling all over anyone who can generate a headline and a "this just out" "what we are just learning now" (curiosity ABC Nightly News) moment.
5
But surely there's no possibility of the news media being driven by anything other than the bottom line. For instance, you can almost see the ratings calculus crawling across the screen as CNN decides what, and what not, to emphasize in the talking heads interview lest some eyeballs leave them for Faux News. Its an incredible balancing act to watch since they seem to believe that talk about policy will bore viewers, while concentrating on personalities and polls requires that they walk a tight rope of not disparaging one side or the other. Even PBS and NPR have to be careful to achieve "balance" and yet appeal to what they believe to be their paying audience. With things so financially tight now in the news media what are the chances of companies and reporters working only out of journalistic duty to the public?
No, "We have met the enemy, and he is us." The public has to be taught to be more discerning, skeptical, and selective. There has to be a market for good journalism.
No, "We have met the enemy, and he is us." The public has to be taught to be more discerning, skeptical, and selective. There has to be a market for good journalism.
7
The jobs report I heard this week said the service jobs were up and construction - manufacturing jobs were down. Adding low wage jobs to the economy will just slow it down. Trumps fake news Tweets do not serve this country and attacking the intelligence agencies not a good idea. While his small base believes this is fantastic, it is childish and unprofessional. He is not fit to serve as President.
9
Anything we've seen of the President-elect over the transition can only lead one to conclude he is patently unqualified for any Presidential task. However, he is a populist and can rally support that way. Today, we have the important news about Apprentice ratings to absorb, and are focused on a silly wall on the southern border. Tomorrow, it may be something similar. However, the republican congress knows that they have to get Mr. Trumps revenge instincts steered up to get things done. So expect a President who responds to anger stimulii as a way to promote your policy objectives. Maybe the Democrats can also follow this strategy.
5
Just to put the upcoming Trump Presidency in perspective I will quote a fellow who really did save the country. "You can fool all of the people some of the time, and some of the people all of the time, but you can't fool all of the people all of the time."
Donald Trump was successful in getting all of the votes he did because of the desperation of people in a majority of the red states and their electoral votes with them. The real truth is that Hillary Clinton, and please forgive this analogy with fiction, carried a longer chain into the election than the one dragged by Marley's Ghost in a Christmas Carol. Moreover, her continual playing, nay, pandering, to women's rights was a tactic that only worked in places that can see the Sun setting over the Pacific Ocean or rising over the Atlantic.
All of this is to say that the DEMOCRATS gave the election to Trump with the assistance of papers like the New York Times, which right up to the end posted evidence right to the end that Hillary had a massive lead and would defeat Trump for sure. They cost us the election by making sure that Bernie Sanders had no chance to win the nomination with their trickery.
Now we can try to survive a P.T. Barnum presidency. Just great, isn't it?
Donald Trump was successful in getting all of the votes he did because of the desperation of people in a majority of the red states and their electoral votes with them. The real truth is that Hillary Clinton, and please forgive this analogy with fiction, carried a longer chain into the election than the one dragged by Marley's Ghost in a Christmas Carol. Moreover, her continual playing, nay, pandering, to women's rights was a tactic that only worked in places that can see the Sun setting over the Pacific Ocean or rising over the Atlantic.
All of this is to say that the DEMOCRATS gave the election to Trump with the assistance of papers like the New York Times, which right up to the end posted evidence right to the end that Hillary had a massive lead and would defeat Trump for sure. They cost us the election by making sure that Bernie Sanders had no chance to win the nomination with their trickery.
Now we can try to survive a P.T. Barnum presidency. Just great, isn't it?
14
Dr. Krugman is absolutely right to contrast sound economic policy that creates jobs with stunts that distract. But, I'd be careful about the nuances:
1) Sure, the media---particularly cable news---has been irresponsible in covering Trump and the election. In fairness, though, the NYTimes (like other outlets) has run numerous in-depth articles about manufacturing, automation, and trade. Unfortunately, many Americans now get their news from social media where short headlines prevail over in-depth articles. Progressives need to work those media more effectively, and generate better headlines and slogans.
2) That might sound like "dumbing down" a progressive message, but we have to reach people where they are, before we can engage in a more thoughtful dialogue. The Democrats haven't done that well. I suggest to Dr. Krugman that, frustrated though he is, labeling Trump voters as rubes will have about the same effect as the "deplorables" remark, or Obama's comment about "guns and religion", or Romney's 47%. When voters buy a con job, it's not just a reflection on them, it says something about the other available products. Let's work on that.
3) From an academic perspective, contrasting the 145 million workforce with the 700 or 1000 jobs touted here or there makes sense. But, it also feeds a narrative that Trump exploited: the "establishment" reels off statistics, but he cares about real people. We need a "macro" view for sound policy, but we have to speak to individuals as well.
1) Sure, the media---particularly cable news---has been irresponsible in covering Trump and the election. In fairness, though, the NYTimes (like other outlets) has run numerous in-depth articles about manufacturing, automation, and trade. Unfortunately, many Americans now get their news from social media where short headlines prevail over in-depth articles. Progressives need to work those media more effectively, and generate better headlines and slogans.
2) That might sound like "dumbing down" a progressive message, but we have to reach people where they are, before we can engage in a more thoughtful dialogue. The Democrats haven't done that well. I suggest to Dr. Krugman that, frustrated though he is, labeling Trump voters as rubes will have about the same effect as the "deplorables" remark, or Obama's comment about "guns and religion", or Romney's 47%. When voters buy a con job, it's not just a reflection on them, it says something about the other available products. Let's work on that.
3) From an academic perspective, contrasting the 145 million workforce with the 700 or 1000 jobs touted here or there makes sense. But, it also feeds a narrative that Trump exploited: the "establishment" reels off statistics, but he cares about real people. We need a "macro" view for sound policy, but we have to speak to individuals as well.
18
And for each company job kept as dictated by Trump, how many companies will quietly decide to not move here, to locate elsewhere, to not expand, so as not to be the subject of Trump's whim?
71
If reporting today seems to consist of little more than transcribing press releases from both sides, I have to wonder why. It has to be more than laziness or indifference. People I've known who aspire to be reporters don't strike me as lazy or indifferent. Quite the opposite, they are idealists.
One cause, I suspect, is that the economic base of the news industry has been so hollowed out by electronic competition that few resources remain to do anything else. No resources available for a "Deep Throat" project today. News spinners in power know the weakness of the industry and lever it.
One cause, I suspect, is that the economic base of the news industry has been so hollowed out by electronic competition that few resources remain to do anything else. No resources available for a "Deep Throat" project today. News spinners in power know the weakness of the industry and lever it.
23
Dr. Krugman, To condemn a President-elect's policies before he has even been inaugurated seems to be premature. Many big solutions began on a smaller scale. We currently have the lowest labor participation rate in the USA since the Great Depression. All of us should be welcoming efforts to address that problem.
13
After Mr. Krugman wrote an opinion piece in NY Tiimes in favour of outsourcing his response to critical letters was , quoute
" I guess I should have expected that this comment would generate letters along the lines of, "Well, if you lose your comfortable position as an American professor you can always find another job--as long as you are 12 years old and willing to work for 40 cents an hour." Such moral outrage is common among the opponents of globalization--of the transfer of technology and capital from high-wage to low-wage countries and the resulting growth of labor-intensive Third World exports"
Culminating in
"In short, my correspondents are not entitled to their self-righteousness. They have not thought the matter through. "
Mr. Krugman, who wrongly claimed for decades that outsourcing had only a negligible influence on the wages of those in the US competing with low cost labour abroad has done more damage to the American working class than any other economics - and had nothing but scathing contempt for its victims.
" I guess I should have expected that this comment would generate letters along the lines of, "Well, if you lose your comfortable position as an American professor you can always find another job--as long as you are 12 years old and willing to work for 40 cents an hour." Such moral outrage is common among the opponents of globalization--of the transfer of technology and capital from high-wage to low-wage countries and the resulting growth of labor-intensive Third World exports"
Culminating in
"In short, my correspondents are not entitled to their self-righteousness. They have not thought the matter through. "
Mr. Krugman, who wrongly claimed for decades that outsourcing had only a negligible influence on the wages of those in the US competing with low cost labour abroad has done more damage to the American working class than any other economics - and had nothing but scathing contempt for its victims.
26
I wish that Twitter and all other social media would close Trump's accounts and bar him from further access.
These media, by their very nature, produce only intense oversimplification of complex issues, and are the primary means through which he bypasses anything (such as actual reporters with actual journalistic training and actual checking of "facts") resembling reality.
Social media cannot, of course, stop him from lying in general, but at least they could tell him (in effect): "You're the President of the United States, and Twitter is no fit way for the leader of this nation to talk about policy affecting tens or hundreds of millions of people. We refuse to further enable your efforts to "dumb down" political discourse. Leadership is not the same as advertising or gossip. For god's sake, the least you can do is speak in complete paragraphs, like an adult with a brain, and actually make a case for what you say."
Wake me up when it happens.
These media, by their very nature, produce only intense oversimplification of complex issues, and are the primary means through which he bypasses anything (such as actual reporters with actual journalistic training and actual checking of "facts") resembling reality.
Social media cannot, of course, stop him from lying in general, but at least they could tell him (in effect): "You're the President of the United States, and Twitter is no fit way for the leader of this nation to talk about policy affecting tens or hundreds of millions of people. We refuse to further enable your efforts to "dumb down" political discourse. Leadership is not the same as advertising or gossip. For god's sake, the least you can do is speak in complete paragraphs, like an adult with a brain, and actually make a case for what you say."
Wake me up when it happens.
23
what about fake policy nostrums by Democrats and by Krugman himself that raising the minimum wage doesn't lead to loss of jobs and prevents young people, particularly minorities, from ever finding the first job and entering the labor force?
9
Trump is a talking head. Just like Bush. He chose a cabinet to run the show. Trump is the barking dog in the middle of the night that makes you scream, "shut up!".
This presidency will be the dog and pony show.
This presidency will be the dog and pony show.
16
I am one of the few Americans (NYT commentors included) who recall history more so than politicians and lamestreet media. Lamestreet media(NYT included) cherry pick facts to fit their careers and beliefs or the beliefs of their controllers of their jobs.
"If you don't learn from history you are bound to repeat it" and we are heading for another Guilded Age, Great Depression era of robber barons. This has been coming since the 70's and Disaster Capitalism around the globe has finally hit the shores of western democracy.
"If you don't learn from history you are bound to repeat it" and we are heading for another Guilded Age, Great Depression era of robber barons. This has been coming since the 70's and Disaster Capitalism around the globe has finally hit the shores of western democracy.
9
An 18.675 Trillion dollar GDP!!! In 1955 US GDP was only 0.413 Trillion! So much for the good old days!
In an 18.675 Trillion dollar economy, why should anyone die for lack of modern healthcare?
Why should any family suffer financial bankruptcy from paying for healthcare?
Why should any American child go to bed hungry?
Why should any child fail to achieve his potential because public education through university is beyond his financial reach?
Why should anyone fear economic insecurity in old age?
If the American people want "change" let's make it "change" for the better.
In an 18.675 Trillion dollar economy, why should anyone die for lack of modern healthcare?
Why should any family suffer financial bankruptcy from paying for healthcare?
Why should any American child go to bed hungry?
Why should any child fail to achieve his potential because public education through university is beyond his financial reach?
Why should anyone fear economic insecurity in old age?
If the American people want "change" let's make it "change" for the better.
28
Paul, you underestimate the President's ability to set a tone, and that is exactly what Trump is doing. You analyze every Tweet as if it were policy set in stone.
8
I was appalled but not surprised when Ford's CEO came out with the press release saying they were keeping jobs here in anticipation of the new administration's regulatory policies. There's gratitude for you, after taking bailout money from the Obama administration. Look for wages to fall, the unions that are left to be marginalized or eliminated, and pollution to rise. The republican playbook for coddling business will eventually kill us all.
18
I've made this point before, but I think it bears repeating.
Trump is just using reality-show tactics. In the CBS series "Undercover Boss", corporate executives go undercover at their own companies and discover that their underpaid employees are struggling. They actually see the day-to-day struggles of their front-line workers, trying to make ends meet, pay medical bills, save for their kids' college, etc.
The solution is not a systemic change, such as universal healthcare or publicly funded college. No, the featured employees are saved by the "generosity" of their employer. Good news, Mrs. Smith, our good friends (aka sponsors) at Pfizer(R) are going to give Tiny Tim free medicine for life! For employee Jose, whose lives with eight kids in a one-bedroom apartment, we're giving you a new home with a mortgage paid by the good folks at Wells Fargo (insert corporate logo and tag-line here). And Mrs. Smith, little Junior is getting a full scholarship at the University of Phoenix(R) -- some conditions apply. Bring in the photographer! Cue the corporate PR team!
Everyone feels good, except nothing was actually solved. The other 9,999 employees are still underpaid, with no healthcare, and struggling to send kids to college. But it sure made for a good story.
Trump is just using reality-show tactics. In the CBS series "Undercover Boss", corporate executives go undercover at their own companies and discover that their underpaid employees are struggling. They actually see the day-to-day struggles of their front-line workers, trying to make ends meet, pay medical bills, save for their kids' college, etc.
The solution is not a systemic change, such as universal healthcare or publicly funded college. No, the featured employees are saved by the "generosity" of their employer. Good news, Mrs. Smith, our good friends (aka sponsors) at Pfizer(R) are going to give Tiny Tim free medicine for life! For employee Jose, whose lives with eight kids in a one-bedroom apartment, we're giving you a new home with a mortgage paid by the good folks at Wells Fargo (insert corporate logo and tag-line here). And Mrs. Smith, little Junior is getting a full scholarship at the University of Phoenix(R) -- some conditions apply. Bring in the photographer! Cue the corporate PR team!
Everyone feels good, except nothing was actually solved. The other 9,999 employees are still underpaid, with no healthcare, and struggling to send kids to college. But it sure made for a good story.
35
I'm sure it's a total coincidence, but Putin also likes this kind of showy, pseudo-policy intervention. Examples include publicly reprimanding ministers who incur public displeasure (while doing nothing to change the underlying policy), or promising rioters angry over the falling standard of living in small towns that he intends to improve the infrastructure there. Such gestures cost him nothing, can be easily staged, and are lapped up by the fawning state-dominated media. Just like in the USA under Trump.
13
This is what you get when you turn 95% of the news media over to four gigantic international corporations. I agree with everything Paul Krugman says here. But it would not be possible to hype populist propaganda as "news" if we had a real news media in this country. Can you imagine such nonsense going on here back in, say, 1957? Or 1967? Or 1977? Or even 1987? No. Media deregulation - the gift that keeps on giving.......
15
AmerIcan journalism has been shameful for at least the last decade, but recently has been getting even worse.
19
Dr. Krugman this is not a comment but a question. Why is the Stock Market doing so well? Many of us see a dark future ahead, but investors seem to be seeing blue skies. What do they see that I can't? I thought the market would tank because of the uncertain future the election of Trump would cause.
9
The fake news will end the day that Crazy Man finally cuts the news media totally off from all direct access to his royal ---- and leaves them struggling for the story. He will probably make Fox his main news outlet like Pravda in Russia. Only then will they understand what their job really is and that is to protect the citizens from this maniac.
7
Another excellent article by Paul Krugman, once again illuminating what is probably one of the main, if not the main, reasons behind the rise of Mr. Trump. Krugman has been stressing this grave problem eloquently and repeatedly for months and months, since the time (if not before) when he predicted brilliantly the oncoming 'Goring' of Ms. Clinton. But even the NYT, the same newspaper for which prof. Krugman writes, devoted endless articles to the fake news of Clinton's emails.
In other words, the problem is so profound that even the newspapers that denounce the fake news in some of their editorials, keep spreading them. This means that the we have an avalanche effect that creates continuously pressure even on the best to fall for 'Trumping' of the media, as discussed nicely for example in http://www.vanityfair.com/news/2016/12/how-trump-trumped-the-media.
Any student of history knows that this has always been a crucial factor that led to great social tragedies. The great challenge that US faces today is how to find an exit out of this 'runaway mode'.
In other words, the problem is so profound that even the newspapers that denounce the fake news in some of their editorials, keep spreading them. This means that the we have an avalanche effect that creates continuously pressure even on the best to fall for 'Trumping' of the media, as discussed nicely for example in http://www.vanityfair.com/news/2016/12/how-trump-trumped-the-media.
Any student of history knows that this has always been a crucial factor that led to great social tragedies. The great challenge that US faces today is how to find an exit out of this 'runaway mode'.
11
The problem is that the new jobs created to replace the ones that disappear are frequently not created not in the USA.
Motorola cell phones were made in the US. The economic churn that brought Apple to the top moved cell phone manufacture to Zhengzhou - at Chinese wages.
In 2016, General Motors, a company bailed out by US taxpayer and fully repaid, started to imports Cadillacs and Buick made in China at Chinese wages. as CT6 and Envisions to the US - without a sticker of origin.
Motorola cell phones were made in the US. The economic churn that brought Apple to the top moved cell phone manufacture to Zhengzhou - at Chinese wages.
In 2016, General Motors, a company bailed out by US taxpayer and fully repaid, started to imports Cadillacs and Buick made in China at Chinese wages. as CT6 and Envisions to the US - without a sticker of origin.
13
So Krugman is finding fault with Trump making small, scrapping gestures to save jobs when he's not yet president and has no authority to do anything more. (This is analogous to faulting Obama for China's coal emissions.)
Krugman strangely resolves the ethics of scrapping to save even 1000 American jobs as gauche because the number is so little. No doubt those Americans are not offended. Small job pick-ups are indeed symbolic, as are small job-killers like blocking Keystone, because they signal which way an administration will move.
Notice too Krugman's legerdemain in comparing Obama's job creation as president with Trump kicking millions off their healthcare -- an example of using the subjunctive mood as fact, and a total non sequitur.
So far, Krugman has been wrong about the "Trump slump" in the market, wrong about imputing racism to the entire Trump voting contingent, and wrong to claim that Trump might need to create a faux 9/11 to gain traction.
It's difficult to even refute all of Krugman's vicious incompetence anymore, but one might add that economists like him helped push Obamacare, which has resulted in millions of Americans indeed being kicked off their plans and losing their doctors and facing skyrocketing premiums.
Ah, but those are the deplorables. None of the "good people" were ever hurt by Obamacare. I forgot.
Krugman strangely resolves the ethics of scrapping to save even 1000 American jobs as gauche because the number is so little. No doubt those Americans are not offended. Small job pick-ups are indeed symbolic, as are small job-killers like blocking Keystone, because they signal which way an administration will move.
Notice too Krugman's legerdemain in comparing Obama's job creation as president with Trump kicking millions off their healthcare -- an example of using the subjunctive mood as fact, and a total non sequitur.
So far, Krugman has been wrong about the "Trump slump" in the market, wrong about imputing racism to the entire Trump voting contingent, and wrong to claim that Trump might need to create a faux 9/11 to gain traction.
It's difficult to even refute all of Krugman's vicious incompetence anymore, but one might add that economists like him helped push Obamacare, which has resulted in millions of Americans indeed being kicked off their plans and losing their doctors and facing skyrocketing premiums.
Ah, but those are the deplorables. None of the "good people" were ever hurt by Obamacare. I forgot.
15
Maybe this factory will become the Carrier-Trump Jobs Museum.
Two factors drive the present stock market bubble: stock buybacks reducing the supply of securities, and anticipation of more stock buybacks when Trump creates a tax holiday to induce repatriation of offshore US company profits.
Two factors drive the present stock market bubble: stock buybacks reducing the supply of securities, and anticipation of more stock buybacks when Trump creates a tax holiday to induce repatriation of offshore US company profits.
3
I just bought a Chevy Cruze.
For all the dim light-bulbs out there,
The car drives great.
According to GM sticker:
32% of parts were manufactured and assembled in Mexico.
Which I think is great, since Mexico is our2nd largest trade partner in NAFTA(also a good thing).
Ahem.....
44% of parts were manufactured and assembled....in CANADA.
But I dont hear a single Trumpista bichin' about THAT.
For all the dim light-bulbs out there,
The car drives great.
According to GM sticker:
32% of parts were manufactured and assembled in Mexico.
Which I think is great, since Mexico is our2nd largest trade partner in NAFTA(also a good thing).
Ahem.....
44% of parts were manufactured and assembled....in CANADA.
But I dont hear a single Trumpista bichin' about THAT.
18
Elsewhere in today's edition we learn China is earmarking $360 Billion annually for increased non-hydrocarbon energy production. Looking slightly deeper, find that in 2015 China installed what averages out to 24 large wind turbines every day of the year, as well as a soccer field equivalent of solar capacity each and every hour. The golf course baron doubts climate science and disdains off shore generators spoiling his view. The make-the-world-flat-again party capped Production Tax Credits on alt-energy manufacturing by 2020. Wonder where the jobs went? It's cheaper to off-shore and ship from Spain, Denmark and China. Skilled and labor intensive sectors are literally being given away. Goals of energy independence, employment growth and carbon minimization could all be achieved simultaneously. Democrats are not blameless here, but since Reagan pulled the solar panels off the White House it's been an uphill slog. To the 1% go the spoils; and for every Mercedes, Audi, and Beamer you see today thank a German worker who enjoys universal health care and free college education opportunity for his or her children.
26
In other news of the day, we hear that Trump will now have the USA (you and I and the other taxpayers) build that wall. But not to worry, we'll still send Mexico the bill. It sounds more and more like that famous bridge that you can buy. We also heard a GOP House member deride some tax cut plan forecasts because the CBO used static scoring instead of the dynamic scoring that the GOP insists on. You know, the scoring that requires forecasts to contain the lie that future economic growth will more than make up for lost tax revenues. Yeah, right, just like the Reagan, Bush Sr and Bush Jr tax cuts did not contribute to the federal deficits that each of those administrations ran up. And we heard Paul Ryan says that the GOP is committed to make sure that every American has access to affordable, high quality healthcare. We just need to repeal Obamacare first.
Some of the lies, like Mexico will pay for the wall, are already being exposed, and Trump is not even the president yet. Other lies won't be exposed until they can't be hidden any longer, like increased federal deficits resulting from the massive tax cuts the GOP will pass. And some lies will just be lies, like Trump already telling us that after Obamacare implodes in response to the GOP repeal, it will the Democrats fault.
Are you looking forward to the country unraveling over the next four years? Me neither. So I will keep wearing my Nasty Woman pin. I have more. The market for those will be going up, way up.
Some of the lies, like Mexico will pay for the wall, are already being exposed, and Trump is not even the president yet. Other lies won't be exposed until they can't be hidden any longer, like increased federal deficits resulting from the massive tax cuts the GOP will pass. And some lies will just be lies, like Trump already telling us that after Obamacare implodes in response to the GOP repeal, it will the Democrats fault.
Are you looking forward to the country unraveling over the next four years? Me neither. So I will keep wearing my Nasty Woman pin. I have more. The market for those will be going up, way up.
194
We are living in a buyer's market of fakery. It is cheap, readily available and in massive over-supply. And the rubes, as PK put it, are gobbling it up while it remains on-sale.
Our cockamamie constitutional excuse for democracy allows this army of fakery consumers to accord the presidency of the United States to a Faker-in-Chief, a tin man charlatan who never tells particular lies because he is a non-stop, 24/7 walking, talking lie.
In such a system, greased with obscene gobs of influence-buying cash, such a figure can be "elected" President while suffering a decisive defeat at the polls. Republicans suggest that California and New York don't really count. I suggest that Trump's 46% of the popular vote shouldn't count enough to put him in the White House.
In our electoral framework, sadly, the Republicans are right which shows that, here in America, you *can* win for losing.
www.endthemadnessnow.org
Our cockamamie constitutional excuse for democracy allows this army of fakery consumers to accord the presidency of the United States to a Faker-in-Chief, a tin man charlatan who never tells particular lies because he is a non-stop, 24/7 walking, talking lie.
In such a system, greased with obscene gobs of influence-buying cash, such a figure can be "elected" President while suffering a decisive defeat at the polls. Republicans suggest that California and New York don't really count. I suggest that Trump's 46% of the popular vote shouldn't count enough to put him in the White House.
In our electoral framework, sadly, the Republicans are right which shows that, here in America, you *can* win for losing.
www.endthemadnessnow.org
11
Fake headlines are giving me a headache. It seems the media, including the NYTimes, is much too often nothing more than a press release publisher. Your headlines focus on what trump says, not on the facts behind them, and the articles are only a little better. Tweets should never be reported, they're not news, just venting without facts. You might as well just publish the tweet and the comments that it triggers, the article that contains no research and few facts just serves to emphasize the tweet, treating it as something important.
If there is something possibly newsworthy, how about reporting all the facts - i.e. trump claims to have saved 700 jobs at a cost of $7million, but Macy's lays off 10,000 workers. "Trump threatens import sanctions Congress does not support. Trump and Republicans have no plan to create new jobs." Congress and Trump promise that billionaires who get tax cuts will help working men and women, Kansas proves otherwise." We depend on media for facts and reality. If you can't accomplish that, then you are simply an arm of the publicity industry.
What trump does is different from an anecdote that proves a point. His rants are just that, rants with no policy behind them or evidence to support them. So treat them as the fluff they are, please!
If there is something possibly newsworthy, how about reporting all the facts - i.e. trump claims to have saved 700 jobs at a cost of $7million, but Macy's lays off 10,000 workers. "Trump threatens import sanctions Congress does not support. Trump and Republicans have no plan to create new jobs." Congress and Trump promise that billionaires who get tax cuts will help working men and women, Kansas proves otherwise." We depend on media for facts and reality. If you can't accomplish that, then you are simply an arm of the publicity industry.
What trump does is different from an anecdote that proves a point. His rants are just that, rants with no policy behind them or evidence to support them. So treat them as the fluff they are, please!
227
NYT was the forerunner of fake news publisher during the run up to the Iraq war, with folks like Bill Kristol beating the drum. NYT is an enabler of fake news, historically.
9
Wouldn't a simple, straightforward, and effective way of responding to Trump's manipulations be to NOT report or comment on his "tweets?"
What's a "tweet?" (I actually don't know, but I'm middle-aged, just 15 years younger than Trump.)
Is it a formal communique? Is it policy? Is it a response to a media inquiry? If it isn't---if it's no more than the same medium that connects the Kardashians and Kanye to the outside world---if a "tweet" is exactly what it sounds like, a chirp, presaged with no thought or preparation---shouldn't the Times, the Post, media in general, ignore it?
Donald, if you want us to know something, tell us in a manner appropriate to your new station in life. Not like a middle-school girl in a snit.
What's a "tweet?" (I actually don't know, but I'm middle-aged, just 15 years younger than Trump.)
Is it a formal communique? Is it policy? Is it a response to a media inquiry? If it isn't---if it's no more than the same medium that connects the Kardashians and Kanye to the outside world---if a "tweet" is exactly what it sounds like, a chirp, presaged with no thought or preparation---shouldn't the Times, the Post, media in general, ignore it?
Donald, if you want us to know something, tell us in a manner appropriate to your new station in life. Not like a middle-school girl in a snit.
16
"On Thursday, at a rough estimate, 75,000 Americans were laid off or fired by their employers...I’m just assuming that Thursday was a normal day in the job market."
Gee, Paul, thanks for another slanted view of employment. You couldn't be bothered to say how many people were hired on a typical Thursday, or would that ruin the narrative?
Gee, Paul, thanks for another slanted view of employment. You couldn't be bothered to say how many people were hired on a typical Thursday, or would that ruin the narrative?
6
There was another sentence in the article that addressed your point "The result is constant “churn,” with many jobs disappearing even as still more new jobs are created. "
7
Policy is something best left in the Soviet Union and in the academic think-tank laboratories.
Policy is something used to enforce Status Quo....
And here in the USA that Status Quo is increasingly and dangerously out of sync with the Real World of the 21st Century.
Paul Krugman's utopian "Policy" was crafted to fit the needs of a nation from a galaxy far far away. A Time when "our boys" were returning from Europe and needed a new house to live in, to raise a family, and get a nice secure union job at a pre-WW2 factory, that paid for everything so that the kids could go to tuition-free college. Oh yeah, Krugman's "policy" also assumes that USA is the unchallenged world leader, having roped the rest of the world into a Laboratory of Democracy called the United Nations and the IMF....soon we will have the Soviet Union contained(according to James Clapper 2017, anyway)
Cutting to the chase, Paul Krugman is lost in reverie for a bygone era.
It makes no sense to compain, Golem-like, "They stole our precious, and we wants it back!!"
Policy is something used to enforce Status Quo....
And here in the USA that Status Quo is increasingly and dangerously out of sync with the Real World of the 21st Century.
Paul Krugman's utopian "Policy" was crafted to fit the needs of a nation from a galaxy far far away. A Time when "our boys" were returning from Europe and needed a new house to live in, to raise a family, and get a nice secure union job at a pre-WW2 factory, that paid for everything so that the kids could go to tuition-free college. Oh yeah, Krugman's "policy" also assumes that USA is the unchallenged world leader, having roped the rest of the world into a Laboratory of Democracy called the United Nations and the IMF....soon we will have the Soviet Union contained(according to James Clapper 2017, anyway)
Cutting to the chase, Paul Krugman is lost in reverie for a bygone era.
It makes no sense to compain, Golem-like, "They stole our precious, and we wants it back!!"
1
Sometimes Trump is the rube, sometimes he's the carnie. It all depends on the audience.
1
Why do I feel like I'm living the embodiment of Hans Christian Andersen's The Emperor's New Clothes? Dr Krugman has taken the place of the child in the crowd, yet no one is interested in listening.
187
Trump's fans sat glued to their TVs watching "Celebrity Apprentice" before the election. Now that he's going to be President they're captivated by his tweets and his self-congratulatory appearances in factories he claims to have saved from the Mexicans and Chinese. In other words, as long as there's an audience willing to watch this charade, the performer-in-chief will keep serving it up.
3
No doubt by June they will be declaring "Mission Accomplished!"!
2
As usual, Dr. Krugman's column is insightful and important. More important than we yet realize. I was just thinking about the media focus on the trivial when I read yet another article about another state legislating where people can go to the bathroom. Really? The Republican Congress is about to condemn millions of people to a slow, agonizing death from diseases like cancer by repealing their access to health insurance, and the media focuses on state congressional legislation about where people are permitted to pee.
2
So Dr. Krugman wants the media to stop reporting Trump's phony triumphs, and focus instead on the way the Democrats, with the vigorous backing of trade economists like him, actively put American manufacturing workers in direct competition with their counterparts in Mexico and China, with no stabilizers, no enforceable labor or environmental controls and no redistribution of the benefits, all the while claiming everyone wins?
And that this "industrial policy" was, until 2016, passionately promoted by one Hillary Clinton?
I didn't think so....
And that this "industrial policy" was, until 2016, passionately promoted by one Hillary Clinton?
I didn't think so....
5
While some of the people may believe that the president-elect is going to save America and make it great again, many, myself included, don't believe that that is going to happen.
What is continuing to affect jobs in the USA and all around the world is globalization, the off-shoring of jobs, automation, robotics, and AI. China, as I understand it, is spending billions of dollars on robotics, and will continue to spend billions on green energy. There will come a time in the very near future when jobs of ANY kind are no longer available to a very large majority of people. Already we are seeing companies like Amazon creating stores to serve customers without any or very few employees. Simply walk in, swipe your card at the check in place, purchase your goods, and walk out. Nobody bags your groceries, nobody takes your money. This is not the future, this is the now. And where will those jobs go?
What is continuing to affect jobs in the USA and all around the world is globalization, the off-shoring of jobs, automation, robotics, and AI. China, as I understand it, is spending billions of dollars on robotics, and will continue to spend billions on green energy. There will come a time in the very near future when jobs of ANY kind are no longer available to a very large majority of people. Already we are seeing companies like Amazon creating stores to serve customers without any or very few employees. Simply walk in, swipe your card at the check in place, purchase your goods, and walk out. Nobody bags your groceries, nobody takes your money. This is not the future, this is the now. And where will those jobs go?
2
and public education is way behind the curve..
1
It's really no different than the GOP trotting out half-a-dozen rubes to complain how Obamacare ate their babies or some such nonsense. Anecdotal arguments always seem to dupe the rubes no matter what. The "I have a neighbor whose mother's brother's wife's nephew burst into flames because of Obamacare" people will never believe the statistics that show how much the ACA has benefited ordinary Americans. They're much more interested in the visceral sense of outrage they can get from a good story. So fake policy is nothing new for these people.
7
One of the few silver linings of the Trump "victory" has been watching Paul Krugman gnash his teeth in anguish and misery.
I wonder if he accepts *any* of the blame for this. After all, he has spent the last decade pouring gasoline on partisan acrimony.
I wonder if he accepts *any* of the blame for this. After all, he has spent the last decade pouring gasoline on partisan acrimony.
6
Look at the system, not random details. Pointing out Trump's reality gaps is exactly like shooting fish in a barrel. The government is no longer accountable, so representational government was lost at some point in recent history. If we still had representational democracy the demagogues and corrupt cronies wouldn’t have taken over. We citizens will have to tune lame pacifying media outlets, and relearn first hand what real politics is about, hopefully before politics turns on us.
The once thriving independent news industry in the US didn’t survive post-industrial America and trickle down politics. After all a journalist makes a product, so if the companies for news writing succumb to the rush to globalize, the endlessly downsizing and outsourcing makes production end. You can get your socks from China, but not your morning news, & infotainment is filling in the void. US Journalism was heavily regulated with a 50 independently owned and operated market system, like banking. Politics gutted the rules, consolidation, & political propagandists stepped in to make more party friendly news, corrupting the industry. Just what they feared in the 1930s.
Today the NYT reported the collapse of journalism in New Jersey. It goes hand in hand with having a no-account governor who wrought ten credit rating downgrades, endless “austericide” (Austerity & suicide) economic policy, scandals and cronyism, but no matter what he's not to blame. He gets promoted in the party.
The once thriving independent news industry in the US didn’t survive post-industrial America and trickle down politics. After all a journalist makes a product, so if the companies for news writing succumb to the rush to globalize, the endlessly downsizing and outsourcing makes production end. You can get your socks from China, but not your morning news, & infotainment is filling in the void. US Journalism was heavily regulated with a 50 independently owned and operated market system, like banking. Politics gutted the rules, consolidation, & political propagandists stepped in to make more party friendly news, corrupting the industry. Just what they feared in the 1930s.
Today the NYT reported the collapse of journalism in New Jersey. It goes hand in hand with having a no-account governor who wrought ten credit rating downgrades, endless “austericide” (Austerity & suicide) economic policy, scandals and cronyism, but no matter what he's not to blame. He gets promoted in the party.
5
Not faked policy For Ford and Carrier employees, whose job did not migrate to Mexico.
7
I didn't get excited about the Carrier thing --- I wondered if he hadn't been in touch with someone prior. Like, let's announce our jobs are moving to Mexico, but then, you save them by pressuring tax cuts. We get the tax cut, you get the PR. And, the way I understand it, the employees didn't get a darn thing - they took a pay cut. So, the big guy pocketed the tax cut.
You know, I just wrote for Brooksie --- my father once bought a gorgeous home, before selling the one we lived in. He ended up getting caught, financially unable to swing both. He was forced to put both on market, the newer prettier one with a huge gorgeous foyer lined with bookcases, and a swinging door on the kitchen, sold. Gorgeous home! (Late '70's) Now, I wonder - wasn't there anyone to help him muddle through, to help him to understand, so that we might have been able to keep the one with bookshelves?
But, from what I see now, if things are as they say, reading the comments --- boy, one side doesn't help the other side if you get one the wrong side of the political/financial fence do they? God, maybe he got on the wrong side of the fence. It was VietNam. What I'm saying, please, Democrats, do not give up on these people! They are trying to understand, many are frightened, and not everyone has discovered better journalism. Start helping, and you might earn them back.
You know, I just wrote for Brooksie --- my father once bought a gorgeous home, before selling the one we lived in. He ended up getting caught, financially unable to swing both. He was forced to put both on market, the newer prettier one with a huge gorgeous foyer lined with bookcases, and a swinging door on the kitchen, sold. Gorgeous home! (Late '70's) Now, I wonder - wasn't there anyone to help him muddle through, to help him to understand, so that we might have been able to keep the one with bookshelves?
But, from what I see now, if things are as they say, reading the comments --- boy, one side doesn't help the other side if you get one the wrong side of the political/financial fence do they? God, maybe he got on the wrong side of the fence. It was VietNam. What I'm saying, please, Democrats, do not give up on these people! They are trying to understand, many are frightened, and not everyone has discovered better journalism. Start helping, and you might earn them back.
Trivial news is all Trump supports care about. They see him help some people 'win', and await their turn. Just like lottery players, your odds of winning may be insignificantly small, but maybe, just maybe they will win too.
2
It is hard to consider anything that issues from a guy whose intellectual capacity is limited to 140 character "tweets" as policy -- fake or otherwise.
3
this is not how it works at all. Surely Krugman knows the concept of correlation, incidentally the concept whose total ignorance by the so-called statisticians and pollsters trying to call the election led them to believe Hillary had a 80+% chance of winning the election. The forecast error they made, presumably due to voters being extra shy about confessing their support for Trump to pollsters, in, say, Michigan, was correlated with the forecast error in Ohio, Pennsylvania, Florida, Wisconsin, etc.
So Carrier's or Ford's or GM's actions regarding where to locate production are highly correlated, i.e. they are not independent, pure noise events as Krugman seems to be assuming. Next time a relocation decision comes to the table for a corporation, one can be certain that Trump's attitude towards shipping jobs abroad will factor into the equation. So it has a good chance of succeeding, at the very least companies that are near to being on the fence on relocating will choose to stay. And that will be economically meaningful.
So Carrier's or Ford's or GM's actions regarding where to locate production are highly correlated, i.e. they are not independent, pure noise events as Krugman seems to be assuming. Next time a relocation decision comes to the table for a corporation, one can be certain that Trump's attitude towards shipping jobs abroad will factor into the equation. So it has a good chance of succeeding, at the very least companies that are near to being on the fence on relocating will choose to stay. And that will be economically meaningful.
4
You know things are bad when Krugman ends every piece with crushed pessimism.
At least he'll die knowing he was right, unlike Trumpers, who will die without health insurance, jobs, or politicians that look out for them.
At least he'll die knowing he was right, unlike Trumpers, who will die without health insurance, jobs, or politicians that look out for them.
1
I applaud the NYT for continuing to offer articles pointing out the Trump's bait and switch policy initiatives. Having said that, the level of analysis in all of these articles is far beyond a political cohort who values their common sense understandings of the world over any media attempts to point out the fallacies of those common sense understandings. Trump will continue to tweet his "victories" to a loving audience, who view Trump as a lottery ticket---tragically, their chances of a better life under Trump are the same as winning a lottery.
2
We live in a sandstorm of disinformation and always have. Most of what we believe is either wishful thinking and something that a marketing/PR person put in our head, at great effort and expense. Why do we eat bacon for breakfast? Why do we wear running shoes? Does the market always pay off in the long run? Are economists serious, or selectively hired to make the "facts" fit the policy? I'll go to my grave without knowing.
4
Thank you Dr. Krugman. The only thing thing remaining is to point out that if it had been Obama that coerced Carrier into saving a few hundred jobs, our patriotic republicans would have accused him of being a tyrant and interfering with the sacred marketplace - and the media would have parroted that for several weeks.
8
Fool some of the people all the time....
3
Why isn't the headline for such "news" just "Trump lies" or "Trump lies again"? Having the content of the lie in the headline reinforces the falsehood as potentially true. Anything else is complicity in perpetuating the lie.
4
Dr. Krugman states "This was fake policy — a show intended to impress the rubes, not to achieve real results." Should we even wonder why this sentence has now caused many people to stop listening to Dr. Krugman because they feel they were called rubes? The argument was good, why unnecessarily alienate people by being an elitist? And what if they are not rubes?
4
Were you impressed?
Yes, Houston, we have a problem.
All of our network "journalists" are simply newsreaders. It's obvious that they get their stories from the remaining newspapers of repute: NYTimes, Washington Post, etc.
For any real journalism on television, look to LinkTV and FreeSpeechTV, on cable and on satellite.
Subscribe to a reputable weekly or monthly to get stories with actual depth and perspective (e.g., Mother Jones, The Nation, The Guardian).
And pray for the second coming of I.F. Stone!
All of our network "journalists" are simply newsreaders. It's obvious that they get their stories from the remaining newspapers of repute: NYTimes, Washington Post, etc.
For any real journalism on television, look to LinkTV and FreeSpeechTV, on cable and on satellite.
Subscribe to a reputable weekly or monthly to get stories with actual depth and perspective (e.g., Mother Jones, The Nation, The Guardian).
And pray for the second coming of I.F. Stone!
1
I have a distinct feeling that the Trump act will wear thin pretty quickly. Are we really going to endure four years (hopefully less) of "Fantastic!" "Yuge!" "Believe me!" solutions? Are we going to accept "I keep hearing" and "People keep telling me" as explanations? Are we really going to put up with policy disagreements as being the "Sad!" opinions of "Losers"?
When you get down to it, Trump is a one-trick pony. He's a shallow, blustering blowhard who has no real ideas, no real understanding of politics, and no grasp of the economy, despite being a self-proclaimed billionaire.
He hasn't even been sworn in yet, and already the knee-jerk Twitter posts are starting to grate on the public's nerves. We have a President-elect who is incapable of addressing the media head on, preferring instead to sulk in his room with his smartphone like a surly teenager.
I think what will happen is that the "fake" will eventually be so obvious as to be undeniable. My real worry is the damage that Trump will do to us all in the interim, with his Cabinet of repulsives, and a Congress licking its lips over slashing our government to pieces.
When you get down to it, Trump is a one-trick pony. He's a shallow, blustering blowhard who has no real ideas, no real understanding of politics, and no grasp of the economy, despite being a self-proclaimed billionaire.
He hasn't even been sworn in yet, and already the knee-jerk Twitter posts are starting to grate on the public's nerves. We have a President-elect who is incapable of addressing the media head on, preferring instead to sulk in his room with his smartphone like a surly teenager.
I think what will happen is that the "fake" will eventually be so obvious as to be undeniable. My real worry is the damage that Trump will do to us all in the interim, with his Cabinet of repulsives, and a Congress licking its lips over slashing our government to pieces.
11
Fake policy or lies or propaganda or many, many corrupt government practices have always been a serious problem with devastating consequences. Fortunately, since even before the American Revolution, our press earned their freedom by exposing these corrupt practices thus helping to elect leaders who could confront the challenges.
In the recent presidential election, our press and media abandoned their traditional watchdog role and embraced the most sensational aspects of the campaigns to enrich themselves with increased circulation, readership, viewers, “eyeballs”, and subsequent advertising. Donald Trump took advantage of their craven greed, played the media brilliantly, and won. Fake journalism & media coverage wildly facilitated fake policy.
The exclusive drive for profits is not new; we see it everywhere, even in the medical profession and pharmaceutical industry, but there are safeguards in place. Paul Krugman is speaking out against the excesses in the media (thank you), but is that enough? Vice President Biden recently mentioned on the News Hour that the Annenberg School of Journalism is looking into the failure of the media in the recent election, but for the return to real (not fake) journalism, the media must recognize their responsibility or they will have sold journalism out and be replaced by “paid posts.” They may deserve that fate, but we don’t.
In the recent presidential election, our press and media abandoned their traditional watchdog role and embraced the most sensational aspects of the campaigns to enrich themselves with increased circulation, readership, viewers, “eyeballs”, and subsequent advertising. Donald Trump took advantage of their craven greed, played the media brilliantly, and won. Fake journalism & media coverage wildly facilitated fake policy.
The exclusive drive for profits is not new; we see it everywhere, even in the medical profession and pharmaceutical industry, but there are safeguards in place. Paul Krugman is speaking out against the excesses in the media (thank you), but is that enough? Vice President Biden recently mentioned on the News Hour that the Annenberg School of Journalism is looking into the failure of the media in the recent election, but for the return to real (not fake) journalism, the media must recognize their responsibility or they will have sold journalism out and be replaced by “paid posts.” They may deserve that fate, but we don’t.
5
How long are the media going to allow Trump to rule by Tweeting ? In this case, the medium is the message, its 140 characters showing the attention span of the writer and his audience.
3
You are so right! Trump has figured out how to use Tweets and headlines to completely control the press, even great newspapers like the one you write for. His promise makes a headline or a Tweet. His failure to keep the promise is buried somewhere, if it is even reported at all. One could write a book solely by compiling his broken promises.
2
As we know, US Presidents have a bully pulpit.
If what Trump is doing will make employers think twice about sending jobs elsewhere then he's accomplished a lot. If Obama had done the same thing I'm sure Prof. Krugman would endorse it.
The ACA has created more '29 hour' per week jobs in the US.
Most employers cannot afford to pay health insurance for their entire staff.
If what Trump is doing will make employers think twice about sending jobs elsewhere then he's accomplished a lot. If Obama had done the same thing I'm sure Prof. Krugman would endorse it.
The ACA has created more '29 hour' per week jobs in the US.
Most employers cannot afford to pay health insurance for their entire staff.
3
Do you think Television news is credible and respectable?
It's a Circus and Don Trump is the Ringleader.
It's a Circus and Don Trump is the Ringleader.
1
Here's an example that captures the essence of the problem: a local man here started a campaign to get Trump to intervene to help abused children.
Politely put, this is utter foolishness, but it shows how people have come to think. The Big Guy in DC will save us. It didn't even start with Obama: you can trace it all the way back to FDR, and charismatic outsiders like JFK and Clinton did nothing to stop the trend. It's up the Press, the keepers of our conscience and guiders of our morals (yeah, right), to tell people that there are no answers to be found in the White House, and the people to petition are those local yokels who fool around in City Hall. It's also time to stop the Feds from keeping the states and cities dependent on Federal money to do stuff, and make them raise money themselves rather than keep passing blame upwards.
Politely put, this is utter foolishness, but it shows how people have come to think. The Big Guy in DC will save us. It didn't even start with Obama: you can trace it all the way back to FDR, and charismatic outsiders like JFK and Clinton did nothing to stop the trend. It's up the Press, the keepers of our conscience and guiders of our morals (yeah, right), to tell people that there are no answers to be found in the White House, and the people to petition are those local yokels who fool around in City Hall. It's also time to stop the Feds from keeping the states and cities dependent on Federal money to do stuff, and make them raise money themselves rather than keep passing blame upwards.
What Krugman is accusing Trump of doing - "impressing the rubes" - is no different from the fake reports from the Obama administration about the hundreds of millions of jobs that Obama personally created in the U.S. Obama and his ilk - Reid, Pelosi, and others - "impressed their ignorant supporters". And that's why Hillary Clinton lost the election, because the majority of the voters woke up to that fact.
6
Because of America's short reading attention span the news media has twitterized themselves. The news media is after reader count not reader's attention.
1
Could you get your own paper to up its game? Report facts, give figures, don't hyperventilate or whine. Then we could get somewhere!
6
Perhaps Sarah Palin was right, and we should call it the "lamestream" media. Even once reputable journalism outlets like the New York Times have become propaganda organs manipulated by the GOP and the Congress it controls. Remember the Benghazi hearings, emails, Obamacare's failings, etc., etc., etc.
2
The media can satisfy all of the people none of the time.
This microcosm here is just a game of whack-a-mole.
This microcosm here is just a game of whack-a-mole.
TRUMP is all surface, no substance. Anyone who reads Mr. Krugman's columns get this. We also understand that the MSM is lazy and enjoys hitching their ratings-wagon to a game show host. It's the MSM's dream come true– Reality TV is now the news. The transformation is complete. No more need to have a real news division, just do stories on the game show. Report the fake successes and ridicule the fake losers. In fact, kick the losers while they are down. It's better TV and allows the host to say his tag line, "You're Fired." Weirdly ironic that Mr. "You're Fired" has been hired to create jobs.
Advice to Mr. Krugman: Calling TRUMP voters "rubes" is not going to help anyone but you and your readership numbers. You are doing exactly what TRUMP is doing. You're firing up your base and ostracizing everybody else. You are giving us lefties a cheap thrill. You are making them the "other." You are doubling down on your own "elitist" label. You are reminding those of us who supported Sanders that you were part of the problem and not the solution. And now you have lots to complain about. Twice a week you rant about TRUMP. Imagine if you were complaining about the difficulties of achieving a single payer plan, or how to pay for community college, or tax the richest of the rich. No. Now you only complain about the inevitability of all of your worst nightmares. Those of us who saw this coming can't thank you enough. [Not]
Advice to Mr. Krugman: Calling TRUMP voters "rubes" is not going to help anyone but you and your readership numbers. You are doing exactly what TRUMP is doing. You're firing up your base and ostracizing everybody else. You are giving us lefties a cheap thrill. You are making them the "other." You are doubling down on your own "elitist" label. You are reminding those of us who supported Sanders that you were part of the problem and not the solution. And now you have lots to complain about. Twice a week you rant about TRUMP. Imagine if you were complaining about the difficulties of achieving a single payer plan, or how to pay for community college, or tax the richest of the rich. No. Now you only complain about the inevitability of all of your worst nightmares. Those of us who saw this coming can't thank you enough. [Not]
4
Best comment yet:
"You are reminding those of us who supported Sanders that you were part of the problem and not the solution. And now you have lots to complain about. Twice a week you rant about TRUMP. Imagine if you were complaining about the difficulties of achieving a single payer plan, or how to pay for community college, or tax the richest of the rich. No. Now you only complain about the inevitability of all of your worst nightmares. Those of us who saw this coming can't thank you enough. [Not]"
"You are reminding those of us who supported Sanders that you were part of the problem and not the solution. And now you have lots to complain about. Twice a week you rant about TRUMP. Imagine if you were complaining about the difficulties of achieving a single payer plan, or how to pay for community college, or tax the richest of the rich. No. Now you only complain about the inevitability of all of your worst nightmares. Those of us who saw this coming can't thank you enough. [Not]"
3
Republicans remind me of Kaa, the snake, singing "Trussst in Me" as they slowly squeeze the wealth out of the poor and middle class and redistribute it to the wealthy. And republican voters are in a euphoric trance, happily singing along, oblivious to the fate that awaits them.
All of which makes me wonder...does anyone know where a guy can get some squeeze-proof undergarments?
All of which makes me wonder...does anyone know where a guy can get some squeeze-proof undergarments?
Mr. Krugman - your arguments are precise, your conclusion irrefutable. But this is like shooting fish in a barrel - exposing the 'man behind the curtain' does nothing to address the real angst of those Trump supporters suffering from job insecurity, devaluation of their status in society, and a perception of the hollowing out of small town and rural life.
So how about a column that outlines a viable set of policies that will clearly address the concerns listed above - policies that liberals can get behind, shout from the roof-tops, and sell directly to those who voted against our wishes!
So how about a column that outlines a viable set of policies that will clearly address the concerns listed above - policies that liberals can get behind, shout from the roof-tops, and sell directly to those who voted against our wishes!
3
There are no policies that can reverse globalization, stop the decline of rural areas or bring back the non-existent industrial jobs without upending the world order, unleashing trade wars or plunging the country into chaos. Sometimes the solution is worse than the problem. Consider Venezuela. The issue of poverty and inequality was real. Chavez' solution has resulted in people dying of starvation in this oil-rich country. Yes, the people Prof.Krugman justly calls "rubes" have lost their status. Were they entitled to it in the first place? Yes, small towns and rural areas are being hollowed out because the best and the brightest move to the cities where they can get education. Why is it bad? Yes, people without college degrees are suffering from job insecurity. Maybe they should develop the mental flexibility and geographical mobility to retrain or move to places where there are jobs. I would abandon any party that panders to the mindset that has elected Trump. And I am not alone.
2
Hear, hear. Way to call him on it. In reality, he has nothing offer re: constructive steps forward. He slammed the only candidate with real vision (Bernie).
2
There are so many people in this country who don't really understand economics or politics. And they are very easy targets for con artists like Trump and his republican enablers.
2
1,500,000 million jobs lost per month in a 30 day month comes out to a loss of 50,000 jobs per day. So I'm still trying to figure out where Krugman came up with 75,000 jobs per day?? Maybe a 20 day month??
3
How do we save the rubes from themselves Mr. Krugman? Especially since the Republican's have discovered the power of their votes.
2
This is another Prof. Krugman propaganda piece.
Did he miss that in 2000, when President Bill Clinton, “from the top,” changed America’s trade policies with communist China trade, which resulted in working Americans losing 3 million manufacturing jobs over the next 4 years? Was this due to automation?...Ummm No….not in 4 years.
And by 2010, America’s trade goods deficit had risen from $96 billion in 1992 to $437B in 2000 and $837B in 2010, which by that time Americans had lost 5.8 million manufacturing jobs- nearly a 1-in-3.
So, yes, Professor, Clinton’s and Obama’s policies weren’t “fake”, only dishonest and anti-American
Did he miss that in 2000, when President Bill Clinton, “from the top,” changed America’s trade policies with communist China trade, which resulted in working Americans losing 3 million manufacturing jobs over the next 4 years? Was this due to automation?...Ummm No….not in 4 years.
And by 2010, America’s trade goods deficit had risen from $96 billion in 1992 to $437B in 2000 and $837B in 2010, which by that time Americans had lost 5.8 million manufacturing jobs- nearly a 1-in-3.
So, yes, Professor, Clinton’s and Obama’s policies weren’t “fake”, only dishonest and anti-American
4
Mainstream media began spouting fake news when they were required by their owners to make the ratings. They were then, and are now, required to cater to what the viewer wants to hear, not what is real news. Thinly disguised advertisements are now passed off as news, particularly at the local level, but everywhere. Talking heads tout their new books as news. The next movie coming out somehow finds an angle to be news about its star. It's all garbage now.
1
So called mainstream news, led by the NYT, has been doing this for years. Add in compulsive faux scandals and there's not much left in today's modern "newspaper". Build it and they will come . . .
3
The propaganda spin is so strong with team Trump that rural America won't even notice that he's gutting the last remnants of their economic stability.
They'll just come on TV complaining that it's Obama's fault. You know they will.
Hard to say I'll have much sympathy for Trump voters who are about to be savaged by his administration. I will however have sympathy for the millions more Americans who didn't vote for this man that will have their lives worsened in the process.
They'll just come on TV complaining that it's Obama's fault. You know they will.
Hard to say I'll have much sympathy for Trump voters who are about to be savaged by his administration. I will however have sympathy for the millions more Americans who didn't vote for this man that will have their lives worsened in the process.
6
The bluster and braggadocio of Mr. Trump are not helpful. Saving a handful of jobs here and there will not accomplish much. Creating jobs in new fields and pushing forward with green infrastructure projects, for instance, will do much to give thousands of jobs to workers in many fields.
Just retrofitting our largest cities with more efficient technology would help to create jobs, and at the same time save resources. Modernizing our electric grid nationwide would also create work for technicians as well as saving money.
In the next two decades, many more millions of people will be moving to our largest cities and metropolitan agglomerations. We need to be ready with new technologies and intelligent citizens who will be able to manage this and other transitions. Mr. Trump should be helping.
Just retrofitting our largest cities with more efficient technology would help to create jobs, and at the same time save resources. Modernizing our electric grid nationwide would also create work for technicians as well as saving money.
In the next two decades, many more millions of people will be moving to our largest cities and metropolitan agglomerations. We need to be ready with new technologies and intelligent citizens who will be able to manage this and other transitions. Mr. Trump should be helping.
1
Larry Summers again: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2016/12/06/lets-be-clear-don...
"If it is cheaper to produce air conditioners in Mexico than in America, won’t Mexican production by non-American companies ultimately render Carrier ... noncompetitive? If Carrier does not export capital to Mexico, won’t Mexico run a larger surplus with America? ... If foreign companies are allowed to run production chains that include Mexico and American companies are not, won’t American employment ultimately suffer?"
"If it is cheaper to produce air conditioners in Mexico than in America, won’t Mexican production by non-American companies ultimately render Carrier ... noncompetitive? If Carrier does not export capital to Mexico, won’t Mexico run a larger surplus with America? ... If foreign companies are allowed to run production chains that include Mexico and American companies are not, won’t American employment ultimately suffer?"
1
Fake policy from a fake president and fake political party. Wonderful!
2
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2016/12/02/why-trumps-carrie... "... [T]here is no country more than 2/3 as rich as the United States that does not have a strong tradition of the rule of law-based capitalism. And I know of no country where the people are free where the rule of law does not largely govern market interactions."
Summers goes on to ridicule the Carrier tax incentives, to say that Sanders's critique missed the point and that presidential restraint vis-à-vis the economy is one of the things that separates America from banana republics. "Some of the worst abuses of power are not those that leaders inflict on their people. They are the acts that the people demand from their leaders."
Summers goes on to ridicule the Carrier tax incentives, to say that Sanders's critique missed the point and that presidential restraint vis-à-vis the economy is one of the things that separates America from banana republics. "Some of the worst abuses of power are not those that leaders inflict on their people. They are the acts that the people demand from their leaders."
2
Two things: (1) the media needs to stop with the headlines and soundbites that don't tell the whole story and include the debunking up front, not buried in the article etc. (2) the media needs to stop reporting on every tweet Mr. Trump sends, many of which are nonsensical . . . or at least stop reporting on them as though they were momentous news. And actually a third thing (3) the media needs to stop thinking they need to find something of equal "value" about the opposition, more often then not there isn't anything and the effort to appear unbiased results in false perception and bias.
3
There is hope. A recent Broward County ballot issue provides a glimmer. An electric power consortium drummed up a measure the would essentially hobble further solar development. It was marketed as a "Go-pro solar" choice. Who wouldn't vote FOR solar. It failed. Florida voters saw through the bait and switch that it was. Sure, the vote was close, but a concerted effort to expose the sham succeeded. Let's hope more voters open their eyes, ears and minds to scammers.
4
The Times should appoint Prof. Krugman Editor in Chief. These are exactly the guidelines which need to be enforced on the front page.
2
Trump reign, may it be shorter than we expect will be considered a lost time for America. When Lies, Zombie Logic, and Fear, replaced intelligence , foresight and modesty.
2
Trump is keenly aware that controlling how information is disseminated is critical. His administration will create a series of PR "wins" that demonstrate how committed he is to the what, 24% of the American people that actually voted for him.
But regardless of the planned photo op stunts, the lives of the Trump voters will not change. They will get worse.
The upward redistribution of wealth will continue. No new living wage manufacturing jobs will get created. The downward spiral of the average American will in fact likely accelerate.
But belief is different than understanding facts. As long as doubt can be sowed as to the veracity of what we know to be true, a long game can be played. Think smoking and cancer. Think climate change.
Trump knows that he can amass the kind of wealth he never could have on his own as long as he holds the office of the Presidency. "Deals" will be showered on the Trump businesses in an effort to curry his favor. Heck, he's got the Clintons model out there front and center. Why would he do anything different?
The question facing President Obama today is this: Does allowing the normal transition of power to continue put the American people and the country in such peril that it brings his oath of office into the equation? Very regrettably, the answer is yes.
Does President Obama simply throw up his hands and say it's nothing to do with me and walk away January 20th? Very likely.
These are the times we live in.
But regardless of the planned photo op stunts, the lives of the Trump voters will not change. They will get worse.
The upward redistribution of wealth will continue. No new living wage manufacturing jobs will get created. The downward spiral of the average American will in fact likely accelerate.
But belief is different than understanding facts. As long as doubt can be sowed as to the veracity of what we know to be true, a long game can be played. Think smoking and cancer. Think climate change.
Trump knows that he can amass the kind of wealth he never could have on his own as long as he holds the office of the Presidency. "Deals" will be showered on the Trump businesses in an effort to curry his favor. Heck, he's got the Clintons model out there front and center. Why would he do anything different?
The question facing President Obama today is this: Does allowing the normal transition of power to continue put the American people and the country in such peril that it brings his oath of office into the equation? Very regrettably, the answer is yes.
Does President Obama simply throw up his hands and say it's nothing to do with me and walk away January 20th? Very likely.
These are the times we live in.
It's no wonder that the Oaf plays at fake news. He's a self-aggrandizing liar and cheat, and always has been. Anyone familiar with his past should have known better than to have voted for such a clot. Unfortunately the minority of voters actually were dumb enough to believe him. And now we're stuck with the oaf, and the only thing that can be done is to frustrate and block him at every point and chance we have to keep the damage he clearly will do at the best minimum we can. One clear way of doing this is to vote in Democrats to replace as many fawning republicans as can be done when the chance arises.
2
Trump is serving strawberries to the press while the working class takes it in the throat. All the while his minions deride the majority as "snowflakes" while the whining class of the 1% get their windfall.
Mass entertainment is the opiate of the masses while the main stream news is the pacifier. As long as the elites (the real billionaire elites) can blame the working class for the slow economy and have the media buy into it all is good with the world.
And one last note, the democrats lost their way when they threw the unions off their boat. Without a direct connection to the working class the democrats are doomed as a coastal party concerned about social issues that fail to get voters to the polls.
Mass entertainment is the opiate of the masses while the main stream news is the pacifier. As long as the elites (the real billionaire elites) can blame the working class for the slow economy and have the media buy into it all is good with the world.
And one last note, the democrats lost their way when they threw the unions off their boat. Without a direct connection to the working class the democrats are doomed as a coastal party concerned about social issues that fail to get voters to the polls.
2
I agree with the last paragraph. It started with Clinton and Obama kept it up.
1
I agree. Within the articles about these alleged Trump achievements, the press has done a miserable job of reporting the true policies at work in the Trumpican world.
This article put into words what I've been steaming about ever since first hearing of Trump's claim to having saved Carrier jobs. Trump's ploy is very subtle, but in reality isn't it just a classic "bait and switch" or "sleight of hand" type of confidence scheme? On the one hand, our reaction is that saving jobs in the U.S. is a good thing (hence the Donald must be doing good). But on the other hand, within the big-picture and coupled with Trump's other actions/agenda, saving a few Carrier/Ford jobs diverts our attention from the otherwise ruinous and blatantly unfair economic policies that are being implemented and that will affect millions of working people every day for years to come.
The back end of Trump's ploy is, of course, to shoot the messenger (in this case the NYT) and try to erode its credibility in the eyes of the public. We've seen this in multiple "Tweets" where he refers to the NYT as the "...failing NYT," suggesting the NYT has no credibility because it is "failing," whatever "failing" means in his world.
This article put into words what I've been steaming about ever since first hearing of Trump's claim to having saved Carrier jobs. Trump's ploy is very subtle, but in reality isn't it just a classic "bait and switch" or "sleight of hand" type of confidence scheme? On the one hand, our reaction is that saving jobs in the U.S. is a good thing (hence the Donald must be doing good). But on the other hand, within the big-picture and coupled with Trump's other actions/agenda, saving a few Carrier/Ford jobs diverts our attention from the otherwise ruinous and blatantly unfair economic policies that are being implemented and that will affect millions of working people every day for years to come.
The back end of Trump's ploy is, of course, to shoot the messenger (in this case the NYT) and try to erode its credibility in the eyes of the public. We've seen this in multiple "Tweets" where he refers to the NYT as the "...failing NYT," suggesting the NYT has no credibility because it is "failing," whatever "failing" means in his world.
3
This fake policy is a product of ignorance and arrogance, unable to deliver on promises made, the distinct 'quality' of demagoguery...of which Trump is a master of. Give bread and circus to the 'masses', to keep them entertained while finding a scapegoat to 'explain' why these anxious folks cannot be satisfied, their needs met, their leader fighting with 'windmills', giants that just won't allow him to deliver the goods. How come his most ardent supporters aren't questioning his refusal to show his tax returns, when it is of the essence to show he is not the crook we suspected all along? Why his hypocrisy in demanding jobs and products to be manufactured at home, while he continues to import things for his private businesses? Trump's conflicts of interest are irretrievably incompatible with holding office, the lack of divestment geared toward further enrichment for him and his family. The lack of policies worth their name will surface soon enough, too bad we have been getting along in such a complacent and masochistic way. And this includes the news media, as it seems to be more reactive to Trump's lies and disparagement than in asking the right questions, and keeping Trump's feet to the fire whenever he utters the next lie and innuendo. Meanwhile, we need our heads examined (not Trump's, an empty shell anyway).
This election had everything to do with trade, yet nothing to do with serious trade policy. Trump and his tough-on-China rhetoric touched a nerve with voters because Trump tapped into an actual truth; that trade with China did much to enrich our corporations and little to advance the well-being of our middle class. When we granted China MFN status in the 90s, Third Way Democrats and Republicans promised us that exposing China to our free market would democratize China all the while improving the economy here at home. How did either turn out?
I'm all for free trade, but the US really should be more judicious in picking its trading partners. When Trump bashes Mexico and China alike, I actually think he's being unfair to Mexico. At least Mexico is a nascent democracy that protects workers' rights and allows for strikes. Any worker dissent in China, on the other hand, is met with arrests. In other words, our southern neighbors deserve our business. China does not. But making a nuanced distinction between trading partners at this point is pointless as both political parties for too long have pushed free trade with only corporations' bottom lines in mind, not human rights or the adverse effects here. The ironic part of all this is that Trump and the Republicans decided to own this issue of trade, but not with any substantive ideas but with demagoguery. The Democrats, when they rejected Bernie Sanders, rejected their opportunity to become the cerebral working class party.
I'm all for free trade, but the US really should be more judicious in picking its trading partners. When Trump bashes Mexico and China alike, I actually think he's being unfair to Mexico. At least Mexico is a nascent democracy that protects workers' rights and allows for strikes. Any worker dissent in China, on the other hand, is met with arrests. In other words, our southern neighbors deserve our business. China does not. But making a nuanced distinction between trading partners at this point is pointless as both political parties for too long have pushed free trade with only corporations' bottom lines in mind, not human rights or the adverse effects here. The ironic part of all this is that Trump and the Republicans decided to own this issue of trade, but not with any substantive ideas but with demagoguery. The Democrats, when they rejected Bernie Sanders, rejected their opportunity to become the cerebral working class party.
3
There was nothing "cerebral" about Bernie Sanders and his acolytes (who by the way gave the election to Trump by withholding votes). Having a populist stump speech and repeating over and over again a couple of slogans that we liberals all agree with, and that were brought up by OWS, is not cerebral. It was demagogic. There is little evidence he could have accomplished any of his promises.
1
You expect in-depth policy coverage? The entire election covered minimal policy. All we were stuck hearing about were Clinton's emails. We heard nothing about economic policies, environmental policies, education policies, health care policies--other than a minute or two about the ACA. The media treated the campaigns as sporting spectacles. Absolutely appalling.
5
So if it happened under the Obama administration, it's simply "churn" your word for the 75,000 a day average of workers becoming "unemployed".
Yet under the Trump banner, this is now devastating news?
Those numbers MUST reflect a "growing" economy as both yourself and this paper have touted as one of the legacies of the Obama years. Now, I guess not.
I'm not a Trump supporter, just the opposite but, really, he totes enough of his own lie shaped baggage around without starting to blame him for the employment/unemployment numbers that, if I read your column correctly, have been around throughout Mr. Obama's time in office. Give Trump a chance to screw it up on his own as I'm certain he and his billionaires club of a Cabinet will almost certainly do.
By the way, aren't all of the great "job numbers" just "fake policy, intended to impress the rubes"? I've just exited this new "job arena" and the two employers I worked for wouldn't give 40 hours a week, wouldn't pay more than minimum wage and always were ready to show you the door as there were more applicants than positions offered.
In short, the arena YOU are most interested in, the Stock Market, has soared but for those of us in the trenches, it's still a stagnant swamp of no health coverage and no advancement in the work place.
Blaming Trump for this "fantasy" of a recovered economy is absurd but I guess if i owned a "portfolio" I might view things differently.
Yet under the Trump banner, this is now devastating news?
Those numbers MUST reflect a "growing" economy as both yourself and this paper have touted as one of the legacies of the Obama years. Now, I guess not.
I'm not a Trump supporter, just the opposite but, really, he totes enough of his own lie shaped baggage around without starting to blame him for the employment/unemployment numbers that, if I read your column correctly, have been around throughout Mr. Obama's time in office. Give Trump a chance to screw it up on his own as I'm certain he and his billionaires club of a Cabinet will almost certainly do.
By the way, aren't all of the great "job numbers" just "fake policy, intended to impress the rubes"? I've just exited this new "job arena" and the two employers I worked for wouldn't give 40 hours a week, wouldn't pay more than minimum wage and always were ready to show you the door as there were more applicants than positions offered.
In short, the arena YOU are most interested in, the Stock Market, has soared but for those of us in the trenches, it's still a stagnant swamp of no health coverage and no advancement in the work place.
Blaming Trump for this "fantasy" of a recovered economy is absurd but I guess if i owned a "portfolio" I might view things differently.
1
I guess what you're telling me - and it sounds pretty hopeless? - is many in the news media are as gullible as the general public. Most of our responses are not about being my "brother & sister's keeper", but the personal impact. That's why the wealthy look for paying less taxes. I guess when enough people lose and cannot replace their health insurance and when nursing homes cannot keep elderly patients because the Medicare and Medicaid funding has been cut and when ... perhaps people will start protesting in earnest. Question remains how many social programs that benefit Americans need to be "sliced" before there is a significant backlash to the Greed Over People party?
2
The problem is not the media, and the "media backlash" described in the last paragraph happened almost immediately regarding the Carrier episode. The facts were there almost immediately for anyone who cared to read them.
The problem is that many Trump supporters not only don't read facts presented by the "media", they despise the media. These are the same people who gather by the thousands at his rallies and chant 'lock her up". Spend a few minutes reading posts by supporters on Trump's Facebook page. These people want to bring the house down. They don't care about your fancy facts.
The problem is that many Trump supporters not only don't read facts presented by the "media", they despise the media. These are the same people who gather by the thousands at his rallies and chant 'lock her up". Spend a few minutes reading posts by supporters on Trump's Facebook page. These people want to bring the house down. They don't care about your fancy facts.
2
On the day trump "saved" 800 jobs, at a cost to tax payers of $7,000,000, the Obama economy CREATED 6,000 new jobs.
5,000 new jobs a day is a slow day.
Perspective is everything with the new carnival side show government.
5,000 new jobs a day is a slow day.
Perspective is everything with the new carnival side show government.
3
what a cynical view of Americans ... perhaps if you own newspaper fairly presented the new instead of just one view of the news Americans might be better informed.
Excellent article that tells the truth about the difference between having a real policy vs. PR showboating and the roles business and the media are willingly playing in this cruel Trump deception.
(Prof. Krugman, Please avoid name calling. "Rube" shows a prejudicial and stereotypical attitude too many "elite" like to use to put down people not like themselves. It is used to belittle people, usually rural and small town folks. Leave the name calling to Mr. Trump. Go high.)
(Prof. Krugman, Please avoid name calling. "Rube" shows a prejudicial and stereotypical attitude too many "elite" like to use to put down people not like themselves. It is used to belittle people, usually rural and small town folks. Leave the name calling to Mr. Trump. Go high.)
1
Mr. Krugman writes:
"Did the incoming administration have anything to do with Ford’s decision? Can political pressure change G.M.’s strategy? It hardly matters..."
He might want to read the NYTimes Wednesday edition (Even Before He Takes Office, Trump Knocks Automakers on Their Heels) and the comments of Mark Fields, Ford CEO:
"And on Tuesday, Mr. Fields made clear that Mr. Trump’s policies were playing a role in the company’s thinking. He added in an interview that the president-elect’s emphasis on tax changes and cutting regulations should have an overall positive effect on automakers such as Ford."
Mr. Krugman may view tax changes and regulatory reform as "fake policy" that "hardly matters" but those charged with actually running companies know better.
"Did the incoming administration have anything to do with Ford’s decision? Can political pressure change G.M.’s strategy? It hardly matters..."
He might want to read the NYTimes Wednesday edition (Even Before He Takes Office, Trump Knocks Automakers on Their Heels) and the comments of Mark Fields, Ford CEO:
"And on Tuesday, Mr. Fields made clear that Mr. Trump’s policies were playing a role in the company’s thinking. He added in an interview that the president-elect’s emphasis on tax changes and cutting regulations should have an overall positive effect on automakers such as Ford."
Mr. Krugman may view tax changes and regulatory reform as "fake policy" that "hardly matters" but those charged with actually running companies know better.
2
Or they know better than better. Ford certainly understands it's better to be on Trump's good side, to support him rhetorically. Ford's support for lighter regulation and lower taxes is no doubt sincere. Claiming they affect jobs and pay is just icing on the cake. Why say anything else?
1
One look at the hair should have been Americas first clue.
Trump isn't a brilliant businessman, he just acts like one. Trump isn't even a billionaire, again, he just acts like one ( at least in his lifestyle). Logically it would be safe to assume that Trump isn't presidential material, he just pretends to be concerned and he doesn't have a clue about the vast intricacies of the economy or the government. In this case it is beyond him to act like a president, his ego and warped world view wont allow it.
The question now is how long will the seventy thousand or so white working class voters who gave Trump the White House come to understand they have be had, duped and ultimately disrespected by Trump and the GOP politicians who have jumped on his bandwagon.
They should ask the Russians , they knew all along.
Trump isn't a brilliant businessman, he just acts like one. Trump isn't even a billionaire, again, he just acts like one ( at least in his lifestyle). Logically it would be safe to assume that Trump isn't presidential material, he just pretends to be concerned and he doesn't have a clue about the vast intricacies of the economy or the government. In this case it is beyond him to act like a president, his ego and warped world view wont allow it.
The question now is how long will the seventy thousand or so white working class voters who gave Trump the White House come to understand they have be had, duped and ultimately disrespected by Trump and the GOP politicians who have jumped on his bandwagon.
They should ask the Russians , they knew all along.
3
I guess Dr. Krugman never heard the naval expression " a shot across the bow" which is meant to signal ones intentions. A president elect cannot institute policies, but he can let us know what his policies will be which is precisely what Trump is doing. Does anyone not know what Trump wants to do about American companies that ship jobs overseas?
Now, the ACA is up to 30 million? Where do these numbers come from? Did ten million people since the last column?
Now, the ACA is up to 30 million? Where do these numbers come from? Did ten million people since the last column?
1
Let's assume -- unrealistically -- that each of those "shots" has a ten-fold demonstration effect across the whole economy -- that is, that in last month's Carrier intervention somehow 8,000, not eight hundred, jobs were saved (for now). That's still tiny compared to the 1.5 million typical monthly figure for involuntary job loss. Even if such interventions were to happen daily...
I think you see Paul K's point.
I think you see Paul K's point.
2
Sounds like you see a plan to replace the products that stop coming to us when all the trade deals are smashed? Care to share?
The part I'd like to hear is how do we convince all the companies currently having the advantage of next to free labor to pay a livable wage and benefits not to mention the cost/investment needed for rebuilding the infrastructure for product output? I forgot; today's capitalism is defined as privatize the profit, socialize the cost.
The part I'd like to hear is how do we convince all the companies currently having the advantage of next to free labor to pay a livable wage and benefits not to mention the cost/investment needed for rebuilding the infrastructure for product output? I forgot; today's capitalism is defined as privatize the profit, socialize the cost.
1
RUMP is trying hard to deflect attention from his absolute lack of knowledge, and understanding, his absolute lack of ability to answer any reasonable questions, his disinterest in controlling Republicans in Congress, his absolute lack of initiative to do the work required of a President of the United States. He's already a failure, before he even starts. His own voters already hate him. NO CHANCE. Not My President. Never Trump.
7
I believe Mr. Trump's continuing focus on individual companies and "saving" jobs at Carrier, Ford, etal., are based on two factors. First, it allows Trump to immediately demonstrate his boast of being "the greatest job creator God had ever created." I recall his projection was a minimum of 25 million new jobs. And while saving any jobs is good news for the folks affected, it surely has little impact on a $19 trillion economy as Dr. Krugman notes. Secondly, and here's the scary part, he doesn't have any concrete ideas on what to do for the economy as a whole. It's just day to day activity with no long term plan, no strategy, no vision. He didn't describe one during his primary/general campaigns, and he hasn't to date. Just headlines, and shiny new objects to keep his base and the media from digging in and discovering he has no earthly idea what to do next. I'll wait until HIS monthly job reports start rolling out, but I'm not expecting to start singing 'happy days are here again!"
119
Krugman writes: "It is, I suppose, possible that fake policy will eventually produce a media backlash — that news organizations will begin treating stunts like the Carrier episode with the ridicule they deserve."
I hope that happens, sooner rather than later, but I'm not optimistic. It seems that most reporters don't like to cover policy, and when they do, they resort to "he said, she said" stenography. Worse, they run to think tanks, institutions funded by donors with agendas. Why so many reporters don't approach think tanks cautiously instead of reflexively accepting them as objective sources of information mystifies me. No, reporters shy away from writing on policy, preferring personality driven stories. Either conflict sells or, to paraphrase popular children's toy and folk-philosopher, Barbie, "policy is hard!"
I hope that happens, sooner rather than later, but I'm not optimistic. It seems that most reporters don't like to cover policy, and when they do, they resort to "he said, she said" stenography. Worse, they run to think tanks, institutions funded by donors with agendas. Why so many reporters don't approach think tanks cautiously instead of reflexively accepting them as objective sources of information mystifies me. No, reporters shy away from writing on policy, preferring personality driven stories. Either conflict sells or, to paraphrase popular children's toy and folk-philosopher, Barbie, "policy is hard!"
5
Obama saved GM remember. That really saved jobs! Why has this been forgotten.
3
The real fake news is not the so called "fake news". And sadly, just as the ignorant are ignorant of their ignorance, the real fake news cannot see how fake their news is.
Excellent op-ed, sir.
Excellent op-ed, sir.
1
As far as jobs, the Real Policy that would work is a 32-hour work week. Lower your expectations. Give up having a house with extra living rooms and 3-car garages. The country would have full employment. Think that policy would make the headlines?
1
Trump's job saving is so obviously fake it makes me shake my head when I see it in the media. And as for the Rubes, I always wanted a fairy godmother too but when I grew up I realized there was no such thing.
3
America is being destroyed by an ignorant orange buffoon.
4
I'll say it again: Paraphrasing Bill Clinton's campaign, "It's the media, stupid"!
1
The mainstream media has been entirely complicit in Trump's rise and Clinton's fall from the very beginning.
Not only will 30 million people lose coverage, some experts estimate that repeal of the ACA will result in 3 million people losing their jobs, largely in the healthcare and insurance industries.
Not only will 30 million people lose coverage, some experts estimate that repeal of the ACA will result in 3 million people losing their jobs, largely in the healthcare and insurance industries.
2
Macy's just announced the closing of 68 stores and the resultant loss of 10,000 jobs. Time to challenge president-elect Donald Trump to reverse Macy's action and save the positions.
2
Trump would need to take on Jeff Bezos.
Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. The ACA is an abject failure. The federal government should be involved in no one's healthcare or the purchase of health insurance. The Congress and the president should legislate requirements by which health insurers must abide in selling coverage. Requirements that provide everyone with the opportunity to purchase tailored coverage. Moreover, let's take it one step further: sell the Veteran's Administration's entire healthcare system to the private sector where levels of care are always available without weeks and months of waiting. Where veterans can receive better, prompt more cost effective care. Give them all a voucher; go where you like. Llet me know when you're ready to receive the Social Security solution!
Exactly the same thing happened in the UK after the Brexit vote. The leave vote was put over the top by areas such as Sunderland in the north of England, areas which have borne the brunt of Tory austerity policies.
Sunderland has a Nissan plant which sells heavily into the EU single market. After the vote, Nissan threatened to scrap new investment unless it was protected against the effects of the vote and leaving the single market.
It didn't take long for the PM to meet with the head of Nissan and lo and behold Nissan announced it would build its new model cars in Sunderland. The terms of any deal are of course a secret.
While the press did question the terms of the "deal" and whether it could be applied to the rest of the industry, this arrangement had the desired effect of tamping down any growing public opinion that maybe Brexit is not such a good idea after all.
Meanwhile Theresa May seems to be heading for a "hard Brexit" meaning no membership in the single market with all the economic consequences that will bring.
Sunderland has a Nissan plant which sells heavily into the EU single market. After the vote, Nissan threatened to scrap new investment unless it was protected against the effects of the vote and leaving the single market.
It didn't take long for the PM to meet with the head of Nissan and lo and behold Nissan announced it would build its new model cars in Sunderland. The terms of any deal are of course a secret.
While the press did question the terms of the "deal" and whether it could be applied to the rest of the industry, this arrangement had the desired effect of tamping down any growing public opinion that maybe Brexit is not such a good idea after all.
Meanwhile Theresa May seems to be heading for a "hard Brexit" meaning no membership in the single market with all the economic consequences that will bring.
2
"Showy but trivial interventions". Trump in a nutshell. Thanks, Paul, for ripping the mask off Trump and his fake populism again and again. He'll keep putting it back on, but maybe, with each unmasking, he becomes a little less convincing. Hopefully, in four years, Trump's calls for everything from torture to discrediting intelligence agencies to massive tax cuts for billionaires will have all the respect and authority of ole Trump U.
1
This is what Trump is good at — actually, the only thing he is good at. It's exactly what his casinos do. Lots of bright lights and loud music and a streaming banner announcing that patrons have won over $20M today. The fact that patrons have actually continued to gamble with those winnings and went on to lose $22M is obscured by the bells and strobes of the next slot machine dumping quarters into someone's lap. "Look, someone just won $300! I love this place! Gimme another $100 in chips!"
He's a con man. He always has been a con man. He'll continue to be a con man. It's what he does — it's all he knows how to do.
He's a con man. He always has been a con man. He'll continue to be a con man. It's what he does — it's all he knows how to do.
4
Yes, Trump is the result of years of the "real" media not understanding policy that works and assuming that what Paul Ryan says makes sense.
2
How is Brownback's policy working out for you?
1
Media incompetency and bias has been a problem since Trump entered the campaign and the news outlets gave him and his rallies free airtime. It continued when the media decided to criminalize Hillary Clinton and use false equivalence in their coverage of both candidates. And here we are with a dangerous man about to take office without the qualifications to do so. We are in for a rough ride--and those of us with common sense know it.
8
That disgraceful excuse for FBI director sure took out his bile over finding nothing illegal about Whitewater during this election.
1
It's ironic that the man who was spearheading the fake news that Obama wasn't born here is generating so much news with his worthless tweets. Trump can't even behave when he's won the grand prize. If this is how he acts when he wins what will he do when he loses something on the world stage? I fear that along with fake policy news Americans will be experiencing a very fake presidency. Then again, that's what enough Americans wanted since the required number of Electoral College votes went to Trump. A fake presidency much like the one we had with Ronald Reagan, the acting president.
6
It seems that both Trump and the GOP seem to believe that the best way to deal with Mexico is to "Mexicanize" the US Economy. Kill unions, submarine wages, remove safety nets, deregulate industry and much, much more! That's the real policy direction. Good Luck from Canada
9
Facts don't matter. The news is "Trump said.." Or even more notable "Trump tweeted..." To which even the liberal columnist responds with "... the fact challenged..." The desire may be to see a battle of truth versus lies or fact based vs fact challenged, but it is really deception and distraction bought into by a willing media. These are the tools of facism.
5
You said, “So what can Mr. Trump do to keep the scam going?”
There is no scam, Donald Trump is the real deal.
The President-elect is setting a tone, “Buy American and hire American”, it is a good thing.
The saving 800-900 jobs at Carrier Air conditioner, was not only great for the families, it sent a powerful message to U.S. companies.
If companies decide to outsource jobs, and then sell their goods back to Americans; there will be a heavy tax levied on them. It is a message Mr. Krugman, and one never seen in American politics before.
As for Ford Motor, they released a statement yesterday stating,
“It was because of Donald Trump, why they have decided not to build a new plant in Mexico”.
Trump’s message is reverberating, it is a good thing, Mr. Krugman.
Ronald Reagan ushered in an era of American patriotism, which was lacking under Jimmy Carter. Donald Trump is not scamming, he means business.
There is no scam, Donald Trump is the real deal.
The President-elect is setting a tone, “Buy American and hire American”, it is a good thing.
The saving 800-900 jobs at Carrier Air conditioner, was not only great for the families, it sent a powerful message to U.S. companies.
If companies decide to outsource jobs, and then sell their goods back to Americans; there will be a heavy tax levied on them. It is a message Mr. Krugman, and one never seen in American politics before.
As for Ford Motor, they released a statement yesterday stating,
“It was because of Donald Trump, why they have decided not to build a new plant in Mexico”.
Trump’s message is reverberating, it is a good thing, Mr. Krugman.
Ronald Reagan ushered in an era of American patriotism, which was lacking under Jimmy Carter. Donald Trump is not scamming, he means business.
18
Maybe he should take aim at Macy's. They just announced they are going to axe 10,000 jobs.
2
The real deal of ... what exactly? Every single item in his hotels - from building materials to "Trump Mouthwash" is made abroad. So why doesn't he start by example and then maybe the rest of us will believe he's the "real deal".
5
A good thing? So you approve of government regulations - I mean Trump style regulations on business? I thought Republicans were about getting government out of business and not meddling and telling them how to run their business.
I do agree with you that Trump is not a scam - he is the real deal. That is the most terrifying thing about him.
I do agree with you that Trump is not a scam - he is the real deal. That is the most terrifying thing about him.
3
I am saddened to see the contempt for "rubes" in many of the comments here. This open contempt does not point to an early healing of the divisions brought about in the election campaign.
2
Healing without honesty only hides the injury. American democracy is not synonymous with a populism in which all views are treated equally. Encouraging equal time for unequal ideas only extends the problem. Unfortunately, there comes a time when the state of the union will itself adjudicate between the dangerous policies of rubes and the less dangerous policies of the cautious and well-informed. It's preferable not to get there.
It's hard to talk about healing divisions when Trump sends out New Year's greetings, mocking his "enemies" -- i.e., the millions of Americans who didn't vote for him.
1
I suspect a problem is that there is an overload of "news" sources (TV, cable papers, web, etc) so that most readers tend to skim (myself included). So its no wonder that headline grabbing stunts are so effective in influencing public opinion.
Trump realizes this and is a master of exploiting it. Look at all the headline attention Clintons e-mails and computer server got before the elections and now its barely mentioned at all.
Trump realizes this and is a master of exploiting it. Look at all the headline attention Clintons e-mails and computer server got before the elections and now its barely mentioned at all.
5
A way is needed to inform trump's supporters of the facts without being looking down at people or being overbearing. Perhaps some form of truth squads is needed around the country using teacher, union members, and local officials. The Pence-Ryan agenda, with trump setting the diversions, will bring many of Trump's supporters to disaster. If the least among us are also the least informed they will be the most easily deceived.
1
Perhaps people are mathematically challenged and need visual graphic cues to understand why 75,000 layoffs are tiny compared to a 145 million jobs economy and Trump's contribution of 700 jobs even tinier. Picture an elephant, a mouse and a fly. Also keep repeating it!
8
Pro-entropy Republicans beckon collapse to reduce the population to desperation. That said, everything that Trump says or does is a distraction, a ruse. Until headlines read: Trump Distracts the Gullible with Claims.... we are all subject fake news and propaganda. A "media backlash"? More like a rude awakening from a nightmare is what we hope for before it is too late.
1
Several good friends recently told me that they have not been watching any TV news programs since the election. Why? Because they believed doing so was making them more benighted than enlightened.
I agree with them, especially after watching Paul Ryan and his Republican colleagues in Congress on TV repeating, without a challenge or being followed up with a correction, that the ACA has been a disaster, after bringing coverage to more than 20 million Americans.
This is only one example. Consider all the dopey claims made during the campaign, e.g., Mexican criminals and rapists coming to the USA, Obama's birth place, the real unemployment rate being 42%, thousands of New Jersey Muslims celebrating 9/11, etc.
America need not concern itself with being made "great again" if the media coverage of our politics continues to contribute to the making of a public more benighted than informed.
I agree with them, especially after watching Paul Ryan and his Republican colleagues in Congress on TV repeating, without a challenge or being followed up with a correction, that the ACA has been a disaster, after bringing coverage to more than 20 million Americans.
This is only one example. Consider all the dopey claims made during the campaign, e.g., Mexican criminals and rapists coming to the USA, Obama's birth place, the real unemployment rate being 42%, thousands of New Jersey Muslims celebrating 9/11, etc.
America need not concern itself with being made "great again" if the media coverage of our politics continues to contribute to the making of a public more benighted than informed.
3
Paul,
Putting aside the fact that this policy comes from Trump (boy is that hard - like judging a symphony performance when a baby cries throughout), is it possible that his promoting individual companies' actions can actually have a positive effect? Could this be an example to other companies that the government is going to reward companies and keep jobs here and punish those that ship them overseas? Could this have a ripple effect?
Commenter Marie Burns asked, if this policy had been enacted by Obama, would we have the same reaction to it? I think this is a good standard for us liberals to keep our objectivity. But, again, Trump makes this hard.
Putting aside the fact that this policy comes from Trump (boy is that hard - like judging a symphony performance when a baby cries throughout), is it possible that his promoting individual companies' actions can actually have a positive effect? Could this be an example to other companies that the government is going to reward companies and keep jobs here and punish those that ship them overseas? Could this have a ripple effect?
Commenter Marie Burns asked, if this policy had been enacted by Obama, would we have the same reaction to it? I think this is a good standard for us liberals to keep our objectivity. But, again, Trump makes this hard.
This country will remain a 50 state maze of litigious venues and fickle courts laboring under a quaint system of measurement units at complete odds with the rest of the world. In other words, a nettlesome place to manufacture things.
The US economy is much like the children's game musical chairs. Each time the music stops (recession) there are fewer players (workers) and fewer yet chairs (jobs) for the remaining players (workers). It seems that Paul and others believe the slow bleed of middle class jobs is unstoppable and inevitable. It might be reversible in part if we could agree to implement some redistribution from the top to everyone else - but after the last election this will never happen. So if the slow bleed is our future, then President Trump is only the beginning of a new, modern dark ages. Why is our species so good at self-destruction?
2
The end game is that we will live simply to provide a market for the production of robots. But we can only do this if we have income to buy it.
NPR just had a feature on a Vietnamese immigrant in California who lost his job because the university where he worked is outsourcing much of its IT to an Indian firm. The catchy thing is that his daughter is attending the same university to get a degree in computer engineering. The article also discussed how hospitals do the same kind of outsourcing.
That is the kind of job losses that will have real impact on US workers. Diverting attention to factory jobs will not address the underlying problem. Artificial intelligence and globalization of data means not only fewer factory workers are needed, but fewer well-educated white collar workers as well.
It's time to address what that means for the future of the US and democracy.
That is the kind of job losses that will have real impact on US workers. Diverting attention to factory jobs will not address the underlying problem. Artificial intelligence and globalization of data means not only fewer factory workers are needed, but fewer well-educated white collar workers as well.
It's time to address what that means for the future of the US and democracy.
4
There is still evidently such a shortage of corporate geniuses that we are left with a halfwit US president.
Most of us are not 'rubes.' Trump did not win the popular vote. We know that 100 jobs here or there is meaningless in a country this size. We know that you and other journalists manipulate the news to fit your publisher's mission. Clinton represented more advertising dollars than Sanders, so destroy him in the primary with your derogatory coverage and outright denial that he was the most trusted and most popular candidate. Pander to Trump because circus acts sell more ads than trusted politicians with smart solutions. You should go away, now Mr. Krugman. You've done too much damage already. Your fake concern at this late stage doesn't cut it.
3
Why can't Americans see when doddering old fools are led down primrose paths by flattery, dark money and "volunteers" out of nowhere?
You nailed it Dr. Krugman.
The problem is not going away.
If the President sneezes it makes 'news'.
Trump and (R's) have mastered the art of propaganda and their audience possesses the rational thought capabilities of the average four year old.
Add to that, a (R) pundit class that 'looks' smart, or at least well dressed, and the deal is closed.
None of this is going to change. Ever.
The problem is not going away.
If the President sneezes it makes 'news'.
Trump and (R's) have mastered the art of propaganda and their audience possesses the rational thought capabilities of the average four year old.
Add to that, a (R) pundit class that 'looks' smart, or at least well dressed, and the deal is closed.
None of this is going to change. Ever.
Mr. Krugman, let us all hope the Times will be at the forefront of the media backlash. The Times is doing a pretty good job now but you all can do it better. Get started!
2
"But nothing we’ve seen so far inspires optimism."
However, with another billionaire, who's an opponent of public education, being La Naranja Uno's nomination for Education Secretary, there's lots to inspire pessimism...
However, with another billionaire, who's an opponent of public education, being La Naranja Uno's nomination for Education Secretary, there's lots to inspire pessimism...
2
Where was Mr Krugman's efforts to educate the public when TENS OF MILLIONS of jobs were shifted from full to part time positions because of Obamacare? What about the damage to drug companies and medical device companies who were hardest hit by Obamacare (a law written by the insurance industry, for the insurance industry)?
Where is the economic impact of the Billions of dollars in increased insurance costs To corporate employees that resulted from the Obamacare free for all?
And where is his analysis of the millions of people who simply gave up trying and left the workforce?
None of these Obama failures are worthy of his analysis. But Trump's symbolic wins are already failures.
Corporations and Trump survive by marketing. They will react to Trump because he understands what motivates them. These are small insignificant steps. But they are setting the tone. Sort of like saying "he could've been my son". Except Trump appears to be doing something about this.
Where is the economic impact of the Billions of dollars in increased insurance costs To corporate employees that resulted from the Obamacare free for all?
And where is his analysis of the millions of people who simply gave up trying and left the workforce?
None of these Obama failures are worthy of his analysis. But Trump's symbolic wins are already failures.
Corporations and Trump survive by marketing. They will react to Trump because he understands what motivates them. These are small insignificant steps. But they are setting the tone. Sort of like saying "he could've been my son". Except Trump appears to be doing something about this.
1
If only all the energy these butchers have spent destroying all things public were applied to our nation's challenges we would sleep better at night. Imagine the majesty of country where all parents were assured of health care and meaningful education for our children, where we harvested the willingness to cooperate as well as compete. The virtue of selfishness crowd, having wasted billions of dollars and countless hours with deception- disparaging the public sector and ignoring the scientific method will not destroy the resilience of humanity but it will bring us to the saddest of all fates: to wonder what might have been...
1
Did Krugman rail against all those "shovel ready" jobs Obama said he would create? What did Krugman say when Obama finally admitted there was no such thing as "shovel ready" jobs? What does Krugman have to say about the labor participation rate?
I bet Krugman supported the Big Lies: if you like your insurance you can keep your insurance, if you like your doctor you can keep your doctor.
Krugman must not care that Obamacare premiums keep going up at double digit rates, and that Obamacare deductibles and copays keep going up to mask costs that are out of control. Or that Obamacare is increasingly unaffordable to those people who don't get it for free (and even for people who get a subsidy, courtesy of the rest of us).
Krugman is becoming the definition of fake news, or at least fake opinion.
I bet Krugman supported the Big Lies: if you like your insurance you can keep your insurance, if you like your doctor you can keep your doctor.
Krugman must not care that Obamacare premiums keep going up at double digit rates, and that Obamacare deductibles and copays keep going up to mask costs that are out of control. Or that Obamacare is increasingly unaffordable to those people who don't get it for free (and even for people who get a subsidy, courtesy of the rest of us).
Krugman is becoming the definition of fake news, or at least fake opinion.
3
Trump repeatedly tells us what he is going to do, not what he has done. He is today's Wimpy, the character in Popeye cartoons famous for saying "I will gladly pay you Tuesday for a hamburger today." Meaning that he cannot afford a hamburger today and has stated no way he will be able to pay for it on Tuesday. But no one questions him as to how he will have the money on Tuesday. In response to Trump's assertions, no one asks "prove it." Reporters and editors never report that Trump makes assertions without offering a shred of proof of the accuracy or validity of his statement. They report it and then seek out responsible people and ask them to disprove it.
3
I appreciate this article and I understand what Trump is doing with his tweets.
He is putting on a show.
He does this by using the fact that most people cannot put his tweets in perspective and possibly don't even care to try. Then, to make matters worse, the tweets show up as headlines giving them validation.
The problem of calling it "fake news" is it is not always fake. Once Trump spews it out there it is up to the media to give us a frame of reference. For that I am grateful. Thank you NYT.
He is putting on a show.
He does this by using the fact that most people cannot put his tweets in perspective and possibly don't even care to try. Then, to make matters worse, the tweets show up as headlines giving them validation.
The problem of calling it "fake news" is it is not always fake. Once Trump spews it out there it is up to the media to give us a frame of reference. For that I am grateful. Thank you NYT.
2
Donald Trump is entirely a creation of the media. If they had responsively reported on him during the primaries and the election, he wouldn't have won a majority of electoral votes. Rather than learning that Trump is never to be believed, the media continue to fall for his lies and stunts. Unless the media wake up, we are in for a very long 4 years. (We may have a terrible 4 years anyway, but at least Americans will learn the truth).
3
Aren't you in awe Paul? It was as if the skies opened and everyone would never have to worry anymore...
Fake is the new 'du jour'. Fake was all the rage during the Ronnie/Bush 1 years of the 80's. I could see big hair and country music being all the rage once again.
One more number - 100. 100 days.
Fake is the new 'du jour'. Fake was all the rage during the Ronnie/Bush 1 years of the 80's. I could see big hair and country music being all the rage once again.
One more number - 100. 100 days.
1
It's a good thing you are an economist and not a politician. As usual, you're preaching to the choir.
1
The over used media term to characterise a third of Americans as "working class" has me wondering. Are we implying the remaining two thirds are not working? The media and the campaign message was "It's jobs, jobs, jobs stupid". And yet we're fed a daily diet of historic low unemployment rates. This column says a daily job turnover of 75,000 is typical. All this does not actually fit. It is true that Carrier not moving saved those 800 odd jobs. What may or may not be true Is the wild political extapolation that it will catalyse a jobs windfall. The media needs to decide if their mission is to report facts or at the same time create their own agenda driven perceptions as news. This tendency of even the mainstream media has been going on for quite sometime. The readership has been apathetically buying it. Cable media is worse! Meantime vast swathes of the populace who neither read papers nor watch much cable news form their own misperceptions and in elections just as the recent one vote accordingly. If our country is at the cross roads as was loudly proclaimed during the election campaign, so is the media that informs it. If we are ruled by fake policy as Mr. Krugman argues, we are at the same time victims of fake news too and that includes you NYT also!!
1
How can the media or anyone else convince anyone, rube or intellectual of facts, truth, logic or common understanding anymore? No one relies on the the kind of rational and cogent arguments you make no matter how well you word them. I despair. SO the question becomes how to tell the truth and how to counter all the falsehoods in a way that get through to the people.
8
The "knights" of the Business Roundtable opposed trump fairly strongly, fearing, naturally, his complete incompetence, recklessness, and egomania. But now that Mussolini: The Sequel is holding the levers of power, with apparent assistance from republican toadies in both Houses, they seem willing to cave and grovel. I cannot, however, join Dr. Krugman in bashing the "Mainstream Media". They may confuse entertainment with news, but right now they are all we have unless we take to the streets...
5
I believe the hype of triviality is essentially a marketing strategy.
What started innocuously enough with product advertising has shifted into the advertising of the individual, of the buyer themselves. We're all stars, everything we say or do really matters and has drama and emotion attached to it - usually completely out of proportion to its true value and insignificance - and we have to make sure to buy into whatever the current trends are to perpetuate our stardom.
Watch any talk show, sitcom. Listen to most lyrics in the top 100. Read any Twitter feed or Facebook page, watch most movies. Everything is awesome, needs an emoji and requires exclamation points, no matter how inane, mundane and useless it is.
Trump comes right out of this "nonsensibility," selling his cheap, tawdry stuff as if it were valuable and high-class. That flawed candidate Crooked Hillary and the Kenyan-born Obama are nothing more than rings round the collar in need of washing out with the absolutely necessary GOP detergent. Buy it, and buy it now.
The Republicans have been more effective with this than the Dems. A concern is the Dems will fight back using the GOP playbook - which is morally and spiritually corrupt. Then the Dark Side wins.
Great artists and statespeople, where art thou?
What started innocuously enough with product advertising has shifted into the advertising of the individual, of the buyer themselves. We're all stars, everything we say or do really matters and has drama and emotion attached to it - usually completely out of proportion to its true value and insignificance - and we have to make sure to buy into whatever the current trends are to perpetuate our stardom.
Watch any talk show, sitcom. Listen to most lyrics in the top 100. Read any Twitter feed or Facebook page, watch most movies. Everything is awesome, needs an emoji and requires exclamation points, no matter how inane, mundane and useless it is.
Trump comes right out of this "nonsensibility," selling his cheap, tawdry stuff as if it were valuable and high-class. That flawed candidate Crooked Hillary and the Kenyan-born Obama are nothing more than rings round the collar in need of washing out with the absolutely necessary GOP detergent. Buy it, and buy it now.
The Republicans have been more effective with this than the Dems. A concern is the Dems will fight back using the GOP playbook - which is morally and spiritually corrupt. Then the Dark Side wins.
Great artists and statespeople, where art thou?
3
Propaganda and messaging. Republicans and Conservatives are experts at delivering a false narrative. Talking points are developed and hammered home through hate radio, Fox "News" and alt-right websites. Why would we expect a large segment of the population not buying into the right wing message?
Their message is visceral and appeals to the lowest common denominator feeding the hatred burning in the hearts and minds of too many Americans.
What are civics teachers presenting in the classroom? If they still teach civics in high school.
Their message is visceral and appeals to the lowest common denominator feeding the hatred burning in the hearts and minds of too many Americans.
What are civics teachers presenting in the classroom? If they still teach civics in high school.
4
Paul, what you say is correct, but how can the media do what you ask when every single thing that Trump says is a facade? You just have to scratch the surface to expose his self-aggrandizing deceit about things like Carrier. The only headlines the media would report would be fully negative about Trump. He deserves that, but it would be like crying wolf too often - the more you do it, the less effect it has.
This was the problem during the campaign. If Trump only lied once or twice a day, maybe it would be possible for the media to keep pace with him. But he lies dozens of times in a single speech. How can the media keep up with that kind of frenzy? They can't, and he knows it.
And let's be careful here. There is a difference between lies and misstatements. Everyone misstates things at one time or another. There's no ill will in that. People make mistakes, or misremember things sometimes.
But lying includes direct, malicious intent to mislead people. Trump may misstate things on occasion, but he LIES directly to his supporters with breathtaking frequency. That is inexcusable, but the good Americans who will be most affected by his lying don't see it coming. Yet.
This was the problem during the campaign. If Trump only lied once or twice a day, maybe it would be possible for the media to keep pace with him. But he lies dozens of times in a single speech. How can the media keep up with that kind of frenzy? They can't, and he knows it.
And let's be careful here. There is a difference between lies and misstatements. Everyone misstates things at one time or another. There's no ill will in that. People make mistakes, or misremember things sometimes.
But lying includes direct, malicious intent to mislead people. Trump may misstate things on occasion, but he LIES directly to his supporters with breathtaking frequency. That is inexcusable, but the good Americans who will be most affected by his lying don't see it coming. Yet.
3
Paul, Every day I get more and more depressed. When will the news people call this guy out for the fraud that he is?
8
Exactly. Stop. Anything he does is fake. Stop reporting it as normal or okay. Challenge everything. You are our only hope...oh, wait...PK and the liberal elite wanted to coronate Hillary, failed to lift up Bernie, toyed with Trump. We're doomed.
Though I voted for Hillary, the references to Americans as rubes is quite sad. The vote is done but the rancor with which Mr. Krugman pens inspires nobody. His editorials have been petty rants. The attitude he portrays is exactly what propelled Trump to the presidency. Blaming the media, but being paid by the "media" is a bit ironic. Perhaps his rant would be a bit more believable if he was protesting in front of the White House on inauguration day; however, it is more likely that he will be sitting in an office authoring another attack on the media that lines his pockets.
3
There is nothing "petty" about resisting this fascist trend in government. I am relieved to see the intelligence community pushing back. I'll be more relived to see the media push back. So far, they haven't done that. They didn't do it during the campaign. My question is WHY? I'd love to see an article explaining why NYT did what it did, and is still doing, for the last couple of years. Poor coverage of ALL the candidates, particularly Bernie Sanders, poor analysis of the lies that were told, no push back on the accusations, name calling, and impossible promises. What gives? Don't just print RUMP'S lies and threatening tweets, give us the repercussions of such foolishness, instead of legitimizing these tactics.
3
Paul's comments might not inspire you, but they inspire plenty of others.
He knows a thing or two about the economy, contrary to our egomaniac president elect whose election victory was celebrated by the Russians. Trump is a scary character whose appeal is not understood by most thoughtful and informed people.
He knows a thing or two about the economy, contrary to our egomaniac president elect whose election victory was celebrated by the Russians. Trump is a scary character whose appeal is not understood by most thoughtful and informed people.
4
Appearances are important.
Trump is badgering US companies to not move jobs overseas and to bring more jobs back to the US.
You say it is fake.
I say people see a huge difference between Trump and the current President. Obama accepts as fate that companies will move overseas, doesn't seem to care about US workers, and doesn't really understand what a job is.
Trump is badgering US companies to not move jobs overseas and to bring more jobs back to the US.
You say it is fake.
I say people see a huge difference between Trump and the current President. Obama accepts as fate that companies will move overseas, doesn't seem to care about US workers, and doesn't really understand what a job is.
2
Ken:
Krugman calls it fake. It may be hyped but it's not fake. I agree with your point. And why shouldn't we hype good news? Krugman and his friends and fans are very afraid that Trump might succeed.
Krugman calls it fake. It may be hyped but it's not fake. I agree with your point. And why shouldn't we hype good news? Krugman and his friends and fans are very afraid that Trump might succeed.
1
I just want to push back a little against the notion that the Carrier deal is not "news". Let me assure you, if you're a long-time Carrier employee, perhaps over 50, facing limited new job prospects, the Carrier situation is potentially life-altering. One of the saddest things about all the layoffs I experienced in my own career was the lack of attention anything received in our local media. When my manufacturing facility of 600 people was scheduled for closure, it merited not even a side story in our local paper. Even if we understand, as the professor rightly points out, that some "churn" in the giant American economy is natural, things don't always look too calm if you're one of the few caught up in that "churn". Of course most of us will survive economic dislocations and end up on or feet. But getting re-employed can be a real struggle, depending on workers' ages, skill levels, and local job market. For too long policy-makers have assured people that things are sure to get better after waves of change - globalization, mechanization, trade with low-wage competition. Many people are not so sure things are getting better. For them, any policy, big or trivial, that helps save their job will be welcome, even from a con-man like DJT.
2
Paul, you are such a breath of fresh air compared to the home-buying drivel of your colleague this morning. (Is he on contract so he can publish whatever he feels like on any given day?)
Thanks for staying relevant.
Thanks for staying relevant.
2
We would not be facing the prospect of a President Trump if the media hadn't been broken for years. They're in the entertainment business, not journalism these days. What gets more eyeballs? Feel good stories about Trump taking credit for saving a handful of jobs, or a complicated story about the way the economy really works? It's the modern version of bread and circuses - and we now have a game show huckster to preside over it all.
3
Wage-earners have been desperately looking for politicians who are "on their side", and Trump managed to convince many (almost a majority) that he filled that role better than Hillary Clinton. His claims about specific actions may be mostly nonsense but there are signs that his administration may in fact be hostile to "free trade" and the exporting of American jobs, and thus he may continue to get support on this issue.
Which side are Democratic politicians on with respect to trade issues? Which side is Krugman on? Saying that it is futile to protest globalization because robots are taking the jobs is not going to win votes - nor is it true. Maybe "liberal" politicians and economists should give the media something good to report about by having some real policies which address the still-increasing inequality.
Which side are Democratic politicians on with respect to trade issues? Which side is Krugman on? Saying that it is futile to protest globalization because robots are taking the jobs is not going to win votes - nor is it true. Maybe "liberal" politicians and economists should give the media something good to report about by having some real policies which address the still-increasing inequality.
1
Of course Carrier was a stunt (after a bribe orchestrated by Pence maybe 800 jobs have been saved for a few years) and the media is massively complicit in this baloney but you can only defy reality for so long as our unfortunate experiences in Iraq or with the housing market (initially hyped) demonstrate. And it's not as if the same things don't happen elsewhere. Amid the Brexit confusion the British have just sent a letter of comfort (Danegeld basically) the contents of which are secret to keep Nissan manufacturing cars in Britain. Ultimately, it's not going to change reality and anyone who thinks it is is a damned fool but then this description does fit a lot of Trump voters. It doesn't matter how many times his administration of billionaires, lobbyists and GS alumni screw them over they will still claim he has helped them. There are still quite a lot of Republicans claiming Iraq was a success.
6
The media must swallow the bitter pill and admit they were (and continue to be) fooled by Trump's fake-everything behaviors. Of those who know him, everything about Trump is a charade -- an outward "persona" hiding weak inner hate.
The media must understand that repeating any of Trump's nonsensical words helps him. The best way to counter him is to ignore him.
Truly IGNORE Trump.
The media's current behavior embodies the false notion, started a decade ago, that the role of journalists is not to challenge but to only report. This is false. It allowed Cheney and now Conway to go on Sunday morning news shows to outright lie -- because they know journalists will challenge them at most once. After one challenge -- the journalists back off. What happened to the William F. Buckleys and Ted Koppels of the media? These were strong journalists, who were not lied to.
The media is now an entertainment empire rather than defenders of democracy. They've allowed (and continue to allow) Trump's fake-everything persona.
The only way to kill cancer is to stop its blood-supply. Stop reporting on Trump. Please.... truly IGNORE this cancerous demagogue's words. When he claims something, anything... write an opposing article that counters his preposterous claim without ever mentioning him or his words. Don't repeat his words. Report only the factual version of what he commented on, without revealing/shining light on his false words. That's the only way to kill a cancer.
The media must understand that repeating any of Trump's nonsensical words helps him. The best way to counter him is to ignore him.
Truly IGNORE Trump.
The media's current behavior embodies the false notion, started a decade ago, that the role of journalists is not to challenge but to only report. This is false. It allowed Cheney and now Conway to go on Sunday morning news shows to outright lie -- because they know journalists will challenge them at most once. After one challenge -- the journalists back off. What happened to the William F. Buckleys and Ted Koppels of the media? These were strong journalists, who were not lied to.
The media is now an entertainment empire rather than defenders of democracy. They've allowed (and continue to allow) Trump's fake-everything persona.
The only way to kill cancer is to stop its blood-supply. Stop reporting on Trump. Please.... truly IGNORE this cancerous demagogue's words. When he claims something, anything... write an opposing article that counters his preposterous claim without ever mentioning him or his words. Don't repeat his words. Report only the factual version of what he commented on, without revealing/shining light on his false words. That's the only way to kill a cancer.
4
Mr. Krugman should address the editors of his own newspaper, especially the editorial board, about their ridiculously soft and "normalizing" sermons about the unstable, dangerous oaf that is to be the president shortly.
6
Paul,
There you go again. Are you seriously asking us to look at the whole picture - the complete film, if you will? Just flipping through random entertaining snapshots is way more fun. However, watch the film, we must...I know thinking about the whole picture has become unfashionable...but maybe it's time will come?
If Toyota builds a plant in Mexico, regardless of where those cars are exported to, does that not bode well for employment in Mexico? Isn't a healthy employment picture in Mexico the key to reducing illegal immigration? So call me crazy, but can I suggest that the more factories that are built in Mexico, the less we would need a "wall"? And how does raising the price of a Toyota for Joe Six Pack (via tariffs) help Joe's family financially? And how could that "wall" money be better spent? Could it be applied to Joe's retraining when he becomes one of the "75,000/day"?
There you go again. Are you seriously asking us to look at the whole picture - the complete film, if you will? Just flipping through random entertaining snapshots is way more fun. However, watch the film, we must...I know thinking about the whole picture has become unfashionable...but maybe it's time will come?
If Toyota builds a plant in Mexico, regardless of where those cars are exported to, does that not bode well for employment in Mexico? Isn't a healthy employment picture in Mexico the key to reducing illegal immigration? So call me crazy, but can I suggest that the more factories that are built in Mexico, the less we would need a "wall"? And how does raising the price of a Toyota for Joe Six Pack (via tariffs) help Joe's family financially? And how could that "wall" money be better spent? Could it be applied to Joe's retraining when he becomes one of the "75,000/day"?
8
"Hyping the trivial obscures reality."
Even before we start reading the body of the article, we know in advance that the "trivial" is whatever relates to Trump, and the "reality" is the perception of Paul Krugman and the NYTimes Editorial Board.
It has been all the same during the campaign, and it is going to be all the same during the next four year of Trump's presidency. The negative aspect, often an abstract concept, is attached to Trump, and the positive aspect, often another abstract concept, is going to be linked to Paul Krugman's take on things and to the Editorial Board.
It's going to be a day when we get an article attributing positive aspects or abstract concepts to Trump himself. No chance ever to see negative aspects linked to the author ("Who is going to laud you, my son, if you don't laud yourself", advises the Hebrew author of the "Wisdom of Sirach"/Ecclesiasticus), or the NYTimes Editorial Board.
In advance, we already know the bent and progression of all those articles. They're shaped by preferences and ideological choices.
I read them, to get my money's value for my subscription monthly fee, appreciate the tightness of the argument, the nature and depth of whatever philosophical ideas are being implicitly used, and, from the start, I tend to distrust them all as systematically marked by a priori choices. Until proven wrong.
Even before we start reading the body of the article, we know in advance that the "trivial" is whatever relates to Trump, and the "reality" is the perception of Paul Krugman and the NYTimes Editorial Board.
It has been all the same during the campaign, and it is going to be all the same during the next four year of Trump's presidency. The negative aspect, often an abstract concept, is attached to Trump, and the positive aspect, often another abstract concept, is going to be linked to Paul Krugman's take on things and to the Editorial Board.
It's going to be a day when we get an article attributing positive aspects or abstract concepts to Trump himself. No chance ever to see negative aspects linked to the author ("Who is going to laud you, my son, if you don't laud yourself", advises the Hebrew author of the "Wisdom of Sirach"/Ecclesiasticus), or the NYTimes Editorial Board.
In advance, we already know the bent and progression of all those articles. They're shaped by preferences and ideological choices.
I read them, to get my money's value for my subscription monthly fee, appreciate the tightness of the argument, the nature and depth of whatever philosophical ideas are being implicitly used, and, from the start, I tend to distrust them all as systematically marked by a priori choices. Until proven wrong.
2
Manufactured reality is the little red engine that makes Donald Trump run. He will say and do anything that appears to work to his advantage. His "facts" are creations designed to configure "outcomes" that he will feed to a "base" as red meat to fuel its loathing of social and racial modernity. This will be bad. Very bad.
3
People can't handle big numbers. 800 people? Sure, I get that, I understand that. 75,000? Or 150,000? No, don't get it. People can focus on one person's story, not a huge economic trend or shift. Why do you think that news (NYT included) always picks a person's story to explain a national story?
4
Trump is fast becoming the Scam I Am guy.
3
Okay Paul. You are totally right about of good journalism. Can you get the higher-ups at the NYT to read this column and act or are we going to get the same rubbish we got before the election. Your column is the only thing I read in the paper. I do not trust the NYT anymore to give me the straight scoop.
2
Fake or real, truth is, right before our eyes and noses, CEO salaries and benefits have sky rocketed through the roof errr galaxy, while workers' salaries, benefits, social services net, have languished or plummeted. Indeed this happened during your idol bill's regime as well. Right before his eyes the y2k "fake fears" fueled outsourcing of tech workers, instead of training American workers with technology skills or providing a safety net for those who were being laid off by the y2k generated fears. It doesn't take an economist to understand that the Clintons would do nothing about soaring CEO salaries because these same Wall Streeters actually financed their political ambitions. You consistently ignored Bernie and Liz Warren which makes us suspicious that you yourself do not really care about the worker. You can talk about ACA till you are blue in the face but if you do not address inequality such as discrepancy in CEO and worker salaries, status quo will remain to plague our nation. Even obama recognizes inequality but was totally helpless and powerless to do anything, primarily because he too got sucked into the role of big money in politics. Obama continued to raise big bucks for Hillary's campaign while mid America was waiting to be heard.
3
Mr. Krugman, the estimated 75,000 jobs lost would have been lost no matter who was the incoming President whereas the 800 jobs saved would only have been saved under an incoming Trump Presidency.
You, and at least 800 others should be grateful for that.
You, and at least 800 others should be grateful for that.
2
The media gave this idiot so much free press that he was able to fool 46% that he should be POTUS. Now, can the media tell the true story of this boob in charge? So far, I am not confident they can help much.
2
One of the President's greatest assets is the bully pulpit. Regardless of the literal bullying conducted by our next President, people (partisans like Krugman) who dismiss the impact of words of a President in pushing a US jobs agenda are choosing to simply bash Trump and ignore a history of Presidents and world leaders changing the courses of rivers though speech. Martin Luther King's "I have a dream" became a rallying cry that changed the minds and hearts of millions. Churchill, Mandela, Woodrow Wilson, Reagan, etc are all leaders who could influence through words. I do not compare Trumps oratory or intellect to these leaders, but I do believe that a relentless focus on jobs and America can influence decisions large and small from the boardroom to the classroom. President Obama was a technocrat (like Krugman) and chose to act through regulation and legislation. For all his vaunted oratory skills, he was a poor communicator with neither the consistency nor focus on message to move a country. Trump is a conundrum. I dont know if he will make a difference to launch us into strife but if he stays on message, uses the office to focus truly on American jobs, he can in fact make a difference
1
We are too far from our elected reps and our reps are too controlled themselves for what actual policy is to matter to anyone, since nobody can contribute much to any of it. We need to increase our access to elected reps by removing the cap on the house of representatives. Make each rep more responsive to his/her constituents. The constitution said one rep per 30k citizens.
Spot on as usual Paul! Good work.
1
Waiting for reality to hit. More columns like this will help but the reach needs to be broader, as Paul points out. Rima is right when she says "let the Republicans fail". Senator Schumer with his plan to work with the GOP congress will only delay the inevitable and end up simply giving Democrats another slap in the face as mushy headed, weak kneed wimps.
I like to amuse myself at this point by comparing Trump and his cabinet to Monty Python's Upper Class Twits skit. And, I am looking forward to seeing who is appointed as Minister of Silly Walks. Any sense of reality is missing if you consider how Trump and his chumps will actually govern. Ryan and McConnell are now in charge. McConnell has confirmed himself as a twit with his recent announcement that "Americans will not tolerate Dems blocking a SCOTUS pick". Hypocrisy writ large. Ryan is all smiles as he announces that Planned Parenthood will be de-funded along with the ACA. Evil incarnate.
I like to amuse myself at this point by comparing Trump and his cabinet to Monty Python's Upper Class Twits skit. And, I am looking forward to seeing who is appointed as Minister of Silly Walks. Any sense of reality is missing if you consider how Trump and his chumps will actually govern. Ryan and McConnell are now in charge. McConnell has confirmed himself as a twit with his recent announcement that "Americans will not tolerate Dems blocking a SCOTUS pick". Hypocrisy writ large. Ryan is all smiles as he announces that Planned Parenthood will be de-funded along with the ACA. Evil incarnate.
4
Real governing and meaningful policy discussion is boring. It's nowhere near as fun as yelling "lock her up" at a rally or laughing at a penis joke during a debate. So a large swath of Trump's supporters have already tuned out the reality of what Trump's presidency means- they will only notice the one-liner sound bites that Krugman describes. Sadly, that will be good enough for them to consider Trump a success.
1
I'm glad Mr. Krugman has been clear in declaring the mainstream media's complicity in advancing Trump's overhyped and oversimplified "victories." I know relatively few people are trained in actual critical thinking but it's practically impossible to sit through an interview of a Trump associate on CNN, NBC (to say nothing of Fox) without wanting to yell at the screen "What about all these other facts that contradict what you are saying?!?!" because the interviewer never asks them. And the print media isn't a whole lot better. Both the NYT and WaPo were giving Trump more credit for reversing the Republicans' vote on gutting the Cong. Office of Ethics than he deserved. I'm hoping reality will force Americans to understand that they are being duped before too much damage has occurred. But in the meantime, to prevent the development of an ulcer or hypertension, I recommend watching a lot less news programs and a lot more old movies.
3
when he is not tweeting his thumbs are firmly stuck in his ears. la la la la la la that is the world he lives in
2
From high a top Trump Tower, ever watchful for opportunely to make Americastan amazing Trump puts on his famous red hat and flexes his muscles to show the awestruck people below that he is faster than a speeding bullet to take credit, that he can leap corporate board rooms in a single bound, that he is more is powerful than a speeding locomotive to be sure he is given credit for the fact that the sun rises in the east and sets in the west.
This demonstrates his new Trumpian policy as his victims, those who “elected” him, reced to mere specks below from his tower perch, cheer as democracy yields to Trumpism the latest form of fascism.
Comic book policis for a comic book “president” who is convinced that he is a super hero. Yet he is addicted to praise and applause and the adulation of his supporters but whose x-ray vision can only see his own self interests, billionaire elites, corporatists and white national militarists. His quest is to roll back the calendar of progress for ordinary people 100 years.
This demonstrates his new Trumpian policy as his victims, those who “elected” him, reced to mere specks below from his tower perch, cheer as democracy yields to Trumpism the latest form of fascism.
Comic book policis for a comic book “president” who is convinced that he is a super hero. Yet he is addicted to praise and applause and the adulation of his supporters but whose x-ray vision can only see his own self interests, billionaire elites, corporatists and white national militarists. His quest is to roll back the calendar of progress for ordinary people 100 years.
1
What's your point? The guy hasn't taken office and his bluster has saved a few hundred jobs - they sure matter to those who have them. Meanwhile, eight years of hollow rhetoric, loss of american prestige and power and a hectoring attitude have saved zero american jobs. Speaking of jobs, so sorry you will not be offered a position at treasury; perhaps Bernie! could use an economic advisor since he will be your party's next candidate. You'll need the time between to spin that one into gold.
3
Obama saved more jobs in he auto bailout than Republicans have created in 20 years. Get a grip.
1
Um , the economy added jobs pretty much every month Obama was in office. It was losing 800,000 a month when he took office.
2
"Eight years of hollow rhetoric have saved zero jobs."
Right. All Obama did was bring us out of the Great Recession he inherited from GWB. What a slacker!
Another GOP rewrite of history, like "Bush kept America safe" (after 9/11/2001, that is).
And people used to say "elephants never forget."
Right. All Obama did was bring us out of the Great Recession he inherited from GWB. What a slacker!
Another GOP rewrite of history, like "Bush kept America safe" (after 9/11/2001, that is).
And people used to say "elephants never forget."
2
If the media had spent less time giving the president elect attention every time the man moved his finger doling out a tweet at 3 in the morning we wouldn't be talking about fake policy.
Fake news, fake policy all for a man who is obviously an attention junkie.
Know how to frustrate an attention junkie?
Ignore him.
Fake news, fake policy all for a man who is obviously an attention junkie.
Know how to frustrate an attention junkie?
Ignore him.
363
Mainstream media have been emasculated by attacks from the right and have lost the courage to report racial vote suppression and fake economic news.
Krugman is infinitely valuable, but phony economic news belongs on the front page headlines, not buried in the op ed section.
The same applies to election reporting - racial factors loomed large in this election in voter suppression and in Trump playing very effectively on race and xenophobia - fear the other!
MSM is in a cowardly crouch, thoroughly intimidated by right wing outlets who call them "liberal." Since liberal has come to mean "factual" and "reality based," it's time to reclaim the label - it's desperately needed. Don't let Newt Gingrich win this war of words.
MSM has a big task ahead to overcome its timidity dealing with economic nonsense, race and Trump's school yard taunts.
But Trump's "governing by tweet" won't wear well and that will leave space for what the MSM does well - tell it like it is and, with Trump, call a lie a lie. We don't have to pretend we're a court of law - if the facts aren't there, its a lie. He's the president and has better access to information than anyone, so if he doesn't get it, he's making it up. Let him prove it wasn't a lie. Let him sue. He lies so often, he won't have time to govern.
Trump is a bully. The MSM can't afford to be a "nice guy" anymore and it definitely can't bring a knife to this gun fight.
Krugman is infinitely valuable, but phony economic news belongs on the front page headlines, not buried in the op ed section.
The same applies to election reporting - racial factors loomed large in this election in voter suppression and in Trump playing very effectively on race and xenophobia - fear the other!
MSM is in a cowardly crouch, thoroughly intimidated by right wing outlets who call them "liberal." Since liberal has come to mean "factual" and "reality based," it's time to reclaim the label - it's desperately needed. Don't let Newt Gingrich win this war of words.
MSM has a big task ahead to overcome its timidity dealing with economic nonsense, race and Trump's school yard taunts.
But Trump's "governing by tweet" won't wear well and that will leave space for what the MSM does well - tell it like it is and, with Trump, call a lie a lie. We don't have to pretend we're a court of law - if the facts aren't there, its a lie. He's the president and has better access to information than anyone, so if he doesn't get it, he's making it up. Let him prove it wasn't a lie. Let him sue. He lies so often, he won't have time to govern.
Trump is a bully. The MSM can't afford to be a "nice guy" anymore and it definitely can't bring a knife to this gun fight.
1
Republicans are committed to blurring the line between reality and fantasy, truth and lies. Fake policy supports the fantasy/lies that Republicans work for the working class and America. Part of their strategy to mislead voters is to name laws to support their fantasy/lies (consider the disingenuous 'Defense of Marriage Act'). George Orwell wrote, “Political language is designed to make lies sound truthful and murder respectable, and to give an appearance of solidity to pure wind.”
America has 'elected' a showman to run the country. He intends to make a show of his time occupying the office. The rubes who voted for him are the same rubes who spend their evenings watching "reality TV" - translation: fantasy TV, and FOX "news" - translation: Republican propaganda.
Yesterday, with a straight face and accusatory tone McConnell claimed Democrats are denying reality. This is all part of the show, the creation of fantasy America. The art of BIG lies, repeated often.
The Republican fantasy/lies are dark entertainment with harmful consequences. The booming middle-class of the 1950's and 1960's with confidence in a even better future, is now the broken middle-class fearful of the future. This is what Republican fantasy/lies have produced since the last showman took the White House in 1980.
That's bad enough, but the rubes cannot connect the dots. So fake policy, fake news, Republican fantasy/lies all look good to them. "Reality" is what the Republicans say it is.
America has 'elected' a showman to run the country. He intends to make a show of his time occupying the office. The rubes who voted for him are the same rubes who spend their evenings watching "reality TV" - translation: fantasy TV, and FOX "news" - translation: Republican propaganda.
Yesterday, with a straight face and accusatory tone McConnell claimed Democrats are denying reality. This is all part of the show, the creation of fantasy America. The art of BIG lies, repeated often.
The Republican fantasy/lies are dark entertainment with harmful consequences. The booming middle-class of the 1950's and 1960's with confidence in a even better future, is now the broken middle-class fearful of the future. This is what Republican fantasy/lies have produced since the last showman took the White House in 1980.
That's bad enough, but the rubes cannot connect the dots. So fake policy, fake news, Republican fantasy/lies all look good to them. "Reality" is what the Republicans say it is.
4
And to top it off, if you buy into their delusions, they say you'll get to a better place when you're dead.
1
i do not worry this miscreant and his cronies will play this game but in 6 months or less they will find the american and the world's press holding them accountable for strife and dissension among populaces around the world. the man cries about the positive torture results yesterday creating an alternative to the real talks in the senate. yeah his tricks till now and for the near future will work but not for long. it is up to the fourth estate to do their job. it will be a hard fight but sense and truth will eventually be the result of this horrendous turn america is futzing with. we shall see what happens. we can already imagine the stench left by these dredged up swampers.
4
Excellent article, as usual by Dr. Krugman.
4
Embellishment for political gain is not limited to Mr. Trump. It's what politicians do. Politicians also hide the truth behind what they want you to believe (restrictive voting laws have to be implemented to curtail fraud). It works because many fall for it and don't look behind the facade. I guess there is nothing to be gained by calling out Macy's and Sears. One company just created a net loss of jobs to the tune of -8000 or so. Just remember the notion that people who work at those places are not just women holding down a second job or looking for discounts for Christmas. More and more they are people who lost other higher paying jobs or college graduates who can't find a job. Pay less attention to the photo ops and tweets and more attention to what is about to happen: privatizing (and putting holes in) all aspects of the safety net, dismantling Dodd Frank, and eliminating the consumer protection bureau. Yup, the billionaires are looking out for you! Always remember this: they come first.
1
Temporarily saving a factory here and there will initially win Donald Trump PR points. After all it's better than having ones picture taken washing already clean pots in an empty soup kitchen as Paul Ryan did in his photo op. The silver lining here is that it will become obvious that Trump's action does as much good as one person with one sandbag in a flood. That's actually one lesson president Obama tried to teach us, the POTUS can't create change alone, that requires people getting involved and making their voices heard. It also requires serious effort on the part of the administration to put policy together in a meaningful and substantial way as was the case with the ACA aka Obamacare.
It is a sad state of affairs when the people of a $17 trillion economy settles for saving 700 jobs temporarily. That's how desperate people are to see change. And it's pathetic that the economic changes voters want can't happen with the administration that Trump has assembled.
Pro-business policy ideally should also be pro-labor but even then people and policy can't fight automation. We still need to invent jobs that supply a demand at the same rate automation reduces the need for labor. The ACA created jobs in the growing industry of healthcare but that fact is entirely lost on Republicans.
It is a sad state of affairs when the people of a $17 trillion economy settles for saving 700 jobs temporarily. That's how desperate people are to see change. And it's pathetic that the economic changes voters want can't happen with the administration that Trump has assembled.
Pro-business policy ideally should also be pro-labor but even then people and policy can't fight automation. We still need to invent jobs that supply a demand at the same rate automation reduces the need for labor. The ACA created jobs in the growing industry of healthcare but that fact is entirely lost on Republicans.
1
Rube: a country bumpkin. If you're talking about the uninformed, please use "uninformed" rather than "rube".
There are a lot of rubes who voted for trump. What is it with all that political correctnes ?
1
Finally somebody puts the blame where much of it lies: with the media.
I hope your bosses are reading.
Thank you.
I hope your bosses are reading.
Thank you.
3
US media consumers only want confirmation of their own biases.
Look, we will have a president who has publicly maintained that The Enquirer is a credible publication and should have been given the Pulitzer, if I remember correctly, for publishing the fantastic news that Cruz' father was involved in the JFK assassination. This statement can be credited to: 1. Trump's childish credulity; 2. his infinity ignorance of what newspapers should be doing; 3. a desperate attempt to buttress his dishonest statement; 4.the introduction of a new reality. In any event, unless newspapers get a handle on how to treat his remarks, speeches, utterances, verbal or digital, we will go down the rabbit hole.
2
Trump is simply a psychopath with a huge bankroll, or an apparently infinite credit line from the financial underworld. The US is incapable of containing such people.
So, there will be zero job outsourcing during commrade trump's 2 to 4 year term?
That's gonna' be a tough row to hoe for commrade trump.
The spectre of one of his rust belt supporters losing a single job to outsourcing is going to be a sword of Damocles hanging over his orange toupee.
Maybe commrade trump will learn controlled restraint in his 71st year.
That's gonna' be a tough row to hoe for commrade trump.
The spectre of one of his rust belt supporters losing a single job to outsourcing is going to be a sword of Damocles hanging over his orange toupee.
Maybe commrade trump will learn controlled restraint in his 71st year.
2
People want their lives to matter. We all want to feel important and useful. It's hard to feel significant in a mind-bogglingly large $19 trillion economy that sloughs off 75,000 workers per day. By singling out one company like Carrier or G.M., Trump can connect with real workers, real individuals whose communities are decimated by the giant suck of good manufacturing jobs out of the country or into computer chips. When he bloviates about a thousand (really 800) jobs not lost, somewhere, anywhere in the U.S., that little part of the big economy stands in for the whole American dream to those who support him.
The Trump spinners are exploiting the hopes and dreams of real people whose families have lost manufacturing jobs. That needs to be understood and handled with respect for the audience in any attempt to show the "fake policy" for what it really is. Treating these episodes with ridicule will most likely backfire because his fans will feel targeted for ridicule as well. Let's learn an important rhetoric lesson from Hillary's "deplorable" mistake and use our words carefully.
The Trump spinners are exploiting the hopes and dreams of real people whose families have lost manufacturing jobs. That needs to be understood and handled with respect for the audience in any attempt to show the "fake policy" for what it really is. Treating these episodes with ridicule will most likely backfire because his fans will feel targeted for ridicule as well. Let's learn an important rhetoric lesson from Hillary's "deplorable" mistake and use our words carefully.
What was the saying in the '60's? "Speak truth to power!" Ha. Good luck with that although I appreciate your efforts Dr. to keep trying to roll that bolder up the mountain. Since I'm dealing in cliches, here's another. The "traditional" media is caught between a rock and a hard place. The "rock", obviously is the head and --sadly -- the heart of the average voter. The "hard place" is the fact that they need to keep earning enough bucks to keep the print and talk flowing. Thus, they try to navigate this dilemma by catering to the least common denominator. Dumb it down or even fewer will read it or listen. If you want to impart any real insight, keep it encapsulated on the editorial page. There are reporters who don't fancy themselves as expose artists and who actually "know" things, but even they have to soft pedal reality and provide "balanced" coverage, always leaving room for those few rockheads who actually even read or listen to confirm their version of reality. Again, I applaud your efforts Dr., but -- back to my cliches -- the American people have rolled the bolder of decency into the ditch and don't seem to actually care.
3
Along these lines, I hope that reputable newspapers will also attend to its words more closely. I recently read Trump described, with respect to the US intelligence community, as a renegade. We've been on this slippery slope of soft soaping negative actions since, say, lay-offs became down-sizing. I believe we need to chose synonyms that evoke the proper effect. In this example, traitor rather than renegade is more appropriate. Renegade makes Trump sound much more exciting than the actual danger he represents to our democracy.
7
Thanks for pointing out the obvious, Dr. Krugman. Unfortunately, while some people understand the difference between anecdotal evidence and the bigger picture conveyed by aggregated data, most seem to be swayed by emotion rather than reason.
All you can do in this situation is to rally the reasonable and find some way to emotionally connect with those who think with their hearts, rather than their heads.
Most of the issues you address in your columns, such as the Affordable Care Act, are too large and complex for the average American to fully understand. I appreciate your efforts to address these issues in an understandable way, without resorting to anecdotes or to dumbing the issues down any more than you have to, to make them comprehensible to your readers.
The main problem, as I see it, is that a large swath of the population does not try to understand the full scope of any of these issues. You will not reach most of these people with your words. In other words, and I say this as a rational atheist, I fear you are simply preaching to the choir.
All you can do in this situation is to rally the reasonable and find some way to emotionally connect with those who think with their hearts, rather than their heads.
Most of the issues you address in your columns, such as the Affordable Care Act, are too large and complex for the average American to fully understand. I appreciate your efforts to address these issues in an understandable way, without resorting to anecdotes or to dumbing the issues down any more than you have to, to make them comprehensible to your readers.
The main problem, as I see it, is that a large swath of the population does not try to understand the full scope of any of these issues. You will not reach most of these people with your words. In other words, and I say this as a rational atheist, I fear you are simply preaching to the choir.
1
PEOTUS Trump demonstrates the powerful effectiveness of political theater. I agree that what Trump does is minor in the scheme of things, but the optics are great as far as the less informed voters are concerned.
The Dems need to take a lesson from this. The issues may be on the Dems' side, but the voters are not connecting the issues with the Dem Party.
The Dems need to take a lesson from this. The issues may be on the Dems' side, but the voters are not connecting the issues with the Dem Party.
1
The American public is probably neither more nor less gullible than they were fifty years ago. But in this world of 24/7 advertising we have images, information, colors and music constantly directed at our emotional centers. And it works. Thats why billions are spent on advertising.
But when our TV and radio news begins to look like and sound like and ad, the public can hardly tell the difference. On line news entities are not much better as a discount refrigerator ad pops up as you read the morning news.
Politicians have been exploiting this system for years. The only thing that has kept them in check is good, honest journalism. Stories can and should quote what a politician says. But the next sentence can also say "but there's no factual basis for this claim." Unfortunately they don't. News has become 'he said this, she said that.' Now let's break for commercial.
The result of this collapse of journalism and our free press in general, is that we now have a skillful salesman as president, who is also a con man, who doesn't release his taxes and has a record of making deals with organized crime.
The Carrier story also failed to emphasize that the saved jobs are going to cost the taxpayers of Indiana millions in tax revenue. No wonder Ford lined up and said 'me too.'
Until truth and honest journalism is reflected in the headlines and not buried in paragraph six, we will continue to be taken for a ride by Trump the salesman. And it may turn out to be a very rough ride.
But when our TV and radio news begins to look like and sound like and ad, the public can hardly tell the difference. On line news entities are not much better as a discount refrigerator ad pops up as you read the morning news.
Politicians have been exploiting this system for years. The only thing that has kept them in check is good, honest journalism. Stories can and should quote what a politician says. But the next sentence can also say "but there's no factual basis for this claim." Unfortunately they don't. News has become 'he said this, she said that.' Now let's break for commercial.
The result of this collapse of journalism and our free press in general, is that we now have a skillful salesman as president, who is also a con man, who doesn't release his taxes and has a record of making deals with organized crime.
The Carrier story also failed to emphasize that the saved jobs are going to cost the taxpayers of Indiana millions in tax revenue. No wonder Ford lined up and said 'me too.'
Until truth and honest journalism is reflected in the headlines and not buried in paragraph six, we will continue to be taken for a ride by Trump the salesman. And it may turn out to be a very rough ride.
3
Today Trump lambasts our intelligence services because their research contradicts his claims that Russia had nothing to do with hacking the DNC or spreading lies that favored Trump's election. His solution is firing their staffs and curtailing their operations. How long will it be before he tries the same for the Bureau of Labor Statistics and other monitors of economic activity? I'm guessing within 12 hours of the first report showing a net job or GDP loss. Fake policy won't tolerate real research that contradicts it. Trump gives every indication he won't stop at suppressing facts, he'll go all the way to making sure facts aren't even gathered anymore. And then we'll all be the uneducated Trump loves, trying to be heard above the bully Twitter feed.
2
So the billionaires have come back from the desert no longer on strike. Colluding with the billionaire Trump to make their case that Businessmen and billionaires know much more about how the world works than, oh ,say the CIA or NSA or any of the bureaucracy of Washington, (the swamp). The main issue is the reduction of taxes to remove the shackles on Atlas, so profits can soar and we will wallow in a sea of consumption like so many cows living in, not a democracy but a Tweetocracy. So that will work as we all get the Tweets beamed at us multiple times daily telling us what to think, and we burn all the books and newspapers. For years I bothered my wife with ruminations about how the philosophical age of Ethics is over and we will live in the age of Epistemology. The use of this term and its derivatives has now started to be fairly commonplace as we contemplate "fake" news and we ignore the responsible sources of information.Thanks again to Mr. Krugman for another lesson on information analysis based on denominators or "out of how many". So Epistemological.
1
Besides tax cuts for billionaires and massive cuts to programs for free people, the pregnant danger will be the massive campaign to privatize as much of the government as possible before the 2018 election. That is the real news.
"the articles eventually, quite a few paragraphs in, get around to debunking the hype: many if not most readers will take the headline as validation of the claim."
Sadly, many only read the headlines and there have been far too many headlines during and since the campaign that paint a positive picture of djt. The damaging bits are often buried as Krugman states above.
Sadly, many only read the headlines and there have been far too many headlines during and since the campaign that paint a positive picture of djt. The damaging bits are often buried as Krugman states above.
2
All that is not new. We've had a long tradition of relying on anecdotal evidence rather than hard data and science. For example, when science shows that a medical test doesn't save lives and is a waste of resources there will always be someone on the news whose life was saved because they had it done. Guess what we will be asking our doctor to do.
Now Trump has turned that one successfully to a new con. I am starting to believe that he indeed knows better than anyone else about everything. After all no one ever went broke underestimating the intelligence of the American people. That was said almost a century ago by H.L. Mencken about the tabloids vs traditional newspapers.
Now Trump has turned that one successfully to a new con. I am starting to believe that he indeed knows better than anyone else about everything. After all no one ever went broke underestimating the intelligence of the American people. That was said almost a century ago by H.L. Mencken about the tabloids vs traditional newspapers.
2
The facts are that Hillary thought she was certain to win, so did not engage in making wild promises. Trump thought he would lose, so made lots of wild promises. Now he is continuing this strategy. It worked on Nov 8 and he will stay with a winning strategy. What puzzles me is that Obama does not boast more about his accomplishments. he has done a lot of good, but seems embarrased to praise himself. Trump does not have this problem. So we will be stuck with lots of fake accomplishments by Trump. I fear the Dem will lose in 2018 again unless they change their advertising strategy.
2
Sorry. The media, the DNC, the pollsters wrongly thought Hillary would win. They did not listen to mid America, they ignored it. Hillary's own campaign exhibited both arrogance and ignorance, for which they paid, heavily.
2
A very important book called "Innumeracy: Mathematical Illiteracy and Its Consequences" by John Allen Paulos, a professor at Temple University, was published in 1988, almost 30 years ago.
It's about the kind of ignorance most Americans display when it comes to big numbers, and how, for instance, many people believe they can plan for retirement by buying lottery tickets.
If adults are illiterate when it comes to big numbers in the vast economy Dr. Krugman speaks of that is going to support them and their children, and their children do not learn about how economies work in school (I certainly never did, as an English major I had never taken one course in economics and knew nothing about it until I worked as secretary to the Chairman of the Economics Department at Columbia University after graduating college), and journalists themselves, even political reporters, are not going to educate themselves about big numbers, then we will always be at the mercy of con artists and always vote against our own interests.
It's about the kind of ignorance most Americans display when it comes to big numbers, and how, for instance, many people believe they can plan for retirement by buying lottery tickets.
If adults are illiterate when it comes to big numbers in the vast economy Dr. Krugman speaks of that is going to support them and their children, and their children do not learn about how economies work in school (I certainly never did, as an English major I had never taken one course in economics and knew nothing about it until I worked as secretary to the Chairman of the Economics Department at Columbia University after graduating college), and journalists themselves, even political reporters, are not going to educate themselves about big numbers, then we will always be at the mercy of con artists and always vote against our own interests.
3
I'm still waiting for Trump to reopen one of those failed coal mines. First, of course, he'd have to persuade us that natural gas is more expensive. I agree wholeheartedly with Paul that his newspaper, along with the rest of the media, should stop covering Trump's boastful tweets and expose his cons wherever and whenever possible.
1
The numbers are the numbers, facts are facts, it's just a matter of how those facts are spun or interpreted by an author, editor, or TV talking head.
This opinion piece downplays the jobs saved by Trump in individual companies by placing those numbers in contrast to the national background. Where was this analysis in the "Obama created or saved" stories. Were those jobs created manufacturing or burger flipping? More information was needed.
This opinion piece downplays the jobs saved by Trump in individual companies by placing those numbers in contrast to the national background. Where was this analysis in the "Obama created or saved" stories. Were those jobs created manufacturing or burger flipping? More information was needed.
Behind the phony populist policies that Krugman deplores, are there perhaps deeper purposes? Is the president-elect a puppet, as some claim, put in power and manipulated by Putin for the express purpose of penetrating our spy agencies, and punishing our people by making them sick again? Are the phony populist policies merely an extension of Putin’s propaganda, and part of his planned power grab?
No, I‘m not paranoid, nor do I usually put credence in conspiracy theories. But I’m beginning to wonder if there’s not perhaps some partial truth in all that.
No, I‘m not paranoid, nor do I usually put credence in conspiracy theories. But I’m beginning to wonder if there’s not perhaps some partial truth in all that.
2
Krugman’s lede paragraph is the perfect digest of the Obama economy. The President inherited an economic mess. The Obama solution, in part, was to change how “job” is defined, yielding fewer hours per weed, lower pay per hour, and fewer benefits. Hence, the Obama Recovery has been long-term anemic.
“Repealing the Affordable Care Act, which would snatch away…” seems intentionally misleading. Krugman must know that Speaker Ryan has made clear a replacement will get passed within Trump’s first 200 days. Besides, if the exact same ACA passed during W’s Administration and hence be termed “BushCare,” Krugman would’ve been at the head of the line, demanding it be repealed and replaced with something that serves the public better.
“So why are such stories occupying so much of the media’s attention?” Because Trump appeared to be fighting for U.S. workers. Media hasn’t seen that from the current administration; thus, it at the very least is a novelty. Novelties get coverage.
But Krugman’s correct about the state of journalism in America. He sees news media as complicit with Trump which, after the passive-if-not-fawning coverage of the current Administration over the past eight years, is absurd. News media desperately need to relearn their craft, avoid becoming insiders, eschew spoon-fed talking points, disband journlolisting, reorient themselves closer to objectivity, listen to more voices, and rediscover investigative journalism.
More than a few pundits could do the same.
“Repealing the Affordable Care Act, which would snatch away…” seems intentionally misleading. Krugman must know that Speaker Ryan has made clear a replacement will get passed within Trump’s first 200 days. Besides, if the exact same ACA passed during W’s Administration and hence be termed “BushCare,” Krugman would’ve been at the head of the line, demanding it be repealed and replaced with something that serves the public better.
“So why are such stories occupying so much of the media’s attention?” Because Trump appeared to be fighting for U.S. workers. Media hasn’t seen that from the current administration; thus, it at the very least is a novelty. Novelties get coverage.
But Krugman’s correct about the state of journalism in America. He sees news media as complicit with Trump which, after the passive-if-not-fawning coverage of the current Administration over the past eight years, is absurd. News media desperately need to relearn their craft, avoid becoming insiders, eschew spoon-fed talking points, disband journlolisting, reorient themselves closer to objectivity, listen to more voices, and rediscover investigative journalism.
More than a few pundits could do the same.
2
More simply, PK is now officially a political hack, anti-Trump on all counts. He should consider this regarding Trump's early days: ' a journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.'
Like all cons the fake policies will succeed in fooling people for a while. Eventually though, all those people hoping for better paying jobs will wake up to the fact that their circumstances have not changed. The question is whether the GOP and Trump will be able to sell the notion that it is still the fault of a pointy headed elite and the mass of illegal immigrants that somehow could not be deported fast enough.
2
Trump's confrontation with the Intelligence community is building as a lesson in how to deal with Trump. They are not backing down, but countering his showy nonsense with solid evidence, and nailing his rhetoric by distinguishing between "disparagement", which they resolutely refuse to accept, and "skepticism", which they welcome. How intelligent of them!
8
Economists like Mr. Krugman tend to look at the big picture, the macro numbers. But the whole is made of the sum of the parts. Here is how hurting a small parts kills of the whole.
If he imposes tariffs on imported goods, domestic manufacturing will be severely impacted. How can that happen?
I'm in the electronics manufacturing business. At least 95% of the component parts we use are manufactured overseas, mostly from eastern Asia (primarily China) and the Pacific region. We can't buy American made parts. They aren't produced here anymore. There are no domestic factories that can be restarted. Its all gone.
Levying big tariffs on those parts would drive up our costs 30% or more. If that happened, there is no way American manufacturers could compete with imported manufactured electronic goods. No way!
By trying to help American manufacturing, he would be hurting it.
That's not fake news. These same factors also affect the largest manufacturing companies. There is only one economy, the global economy. A trade war would be devastating to many industries.
If he imposes tariffs on imported goods, domestic manufacturing will be severely impacted. How can that happen?
I'm in the electronics manufacturing business. At least 95% of the component parts we use are manufactured overseas, mostly from eastern Asia (primarily China) and the Pacific region. We can't buy American made parts. They aren't produced here anymore. There are no domestic factories that can be restarted. Its all gone.
Levying big tariffs on those parts would drive up our costs 30% or more. If that happened, there is no way American manufacturers could compete with imported manufactured electronic goods. No way!
By trying to help American manufacturing, he would be hurting it.
That's not fake news. These same factors also affect the largest manufacturing companies. There is only one economy, the global economy. A trade war would be devastating to many industries.
2
Reply to Bruce Rozenblit,
The same is true of cars and car parts. See Eduardo Porter in The Times: http://tinyurl.com/h962tl9
The same is true of cars and car parts. See Eduardo Porter in The Times: http://tinyurl.com/h962tl9
1
Politics is not now, nor has it ever been, entirely about facts. It is most often about perceptions "the only thing we have to fear is fear itself". Democrats, as have all political technocrats in the western polity, have forgotten this most basic understanding about human interaction and we are all going to pay the price. All the rational policy discussion in the world does no good if the talker has no power, and the best of our presidents have always shown a fine touch at moving people through a combination of rational and emotional leadership.
3
Psychologists annoy me. They neglect two roles in the story, as they diagnose "narcissist."
In his classic work The Greek Myths, Robert Graves points out, when retelling that tale, its variants, its sources, and interpreting it: Narcissus and Echo is not in fact a myth. It is a moral tale derived from earlier mythical material.
A good moral tale is not thrown away, even if the myth(s) it is derived from is/are no longer worth keeping. Descendant generations, charged with deciding which part of the story gets orally transmitted to the next generation, may find the moral tale's ancient-myth potting soil so ancient, and incomprehensible, they just discard it.
But the moral tale is useful in helping young children, capable of attaining higher levels of cognitive development, feel perplexed (feeling perplexed greases the learning slide). It's a keeper
Psychologists annoy me because they don't recall that the inability of the reflecting pool Narcissus falls in love with to respond (it's not real!), while the curse on the nymph Echo---who DOES want to respond---prevents her from doing anything more than repeating the last phrases of his speech, unseen, are both integral components of the same overall conflicted personality.
Whether Echo is an adversary or an ally he cannot tell, since he hears only the tail-end of his own speech, desirous yet despairing. When Donald's own adversaries and allies learn how to "Echo," he will become the ping pong ball in his own match.
In his classic work The Greek Myths, Robert Graves points out, when retelling that tale, its variants, its sources, and interpreting it: Narcissus and Echo is not in fact a myth. It is a moral tale derived from earlier mythical material.
A good moral tale is not thrown away, even if the myth(s) it is derived from is/are no longer worth keeping. Descendant generations, charged with deciding which part of the story gets orally transmitted to the next generation, may find the moral tale's ancient-myth potting soil so ancient, and incomprehensible, they just discard it.
But the moral tale is useful in helping young children, capable of attaining higher levels of cognitive development, feel perplexed (feeling perplexed greases the learning slide). It's a keeper
Psychologists annoy me because they don't recall that the inability of the reflecting pool Narcissus falls in love with to respond (it's not real!), while the curse on the nymph Echo---who DOES want to respond---prevents her from doing anything more than repeating the last phrases of his speech, unseen, are both integral components of the same overall conflicted personality.
Whether Echo is an adversary or an ally he cannot tell, since he hears only the tail-end of his own speech, desirous yet despairing. When Donald's own adversaries and allies learn how to "Echo," he will become the ping pong ball in his own match.
3
Trump, as President,in a news conference, " uh huh", is the follow up question? In fact a friend of mine would occasionally offer that mode up for reply to his girlfriend, a whole lot of love, allow it momentarily.
It is often said Trump won the old white middle class, and it is said he did it with pretty lies, I only ask have we ever experienced ugly lies from our government, an unfortunate incident from early on May come to mind, and it was treated as such but our world is very much like a world described in a deservedly admired poem, "Second Coming". An honest reading of the poem acknowledges that Trumps capture of the White House does not make the poem any more or less appropriate to our world and challenges.
It is often said Trump won the old white middle class, and it is said he did it with pretty lies, I only ask have we ever experienced ugly lies from our government, an unfortunate incident from early on May come to mind, and it was treated as such but our world is very much like a world described in a deservedly admired poem, "Second Coming". An honest reading of the poem acknowledges that Trumps capture of the White House does not make the poem any more or less appropriate to our world and challenges.
As I read this, Kellyanne Conway is on CBS This Morning. The first words out of her mouth are "Donald Trump has enormous respect for the intelligence community". (Had to mute sound at that point - reading the lies is much less stressful.)
The constant parade of Trump surrogates, Ms. Conway being the most prominent, saying what Trump really meant, that words are just words, that it is always the media's misunderstanding, mishearing, misquoting, mistakenly airing what Trump actually says, that it is all so unfair to Trump, is mind-boggling. Why does no one challenge these lies?
None of the news outlets call out the lying. They need to stop falling for the shiny objects his staff throws out to deflect. It's obvious that Trump is unable to separate his ego from governing. His unhealthy need to be perceived as superior, the best, the winner in any given situation, will jeopardize our nation.
Are we really to believe that all the words that dribble out of the President-elect's mouth or are pounded out by his little fingers on his phone are just meaningless fluff, an endless stream of "look at me, look at me"?
Trump is just tweeting? What the President says he does not mean?
Fake news, constant blatant lies, and a GOP party that is unable to put the good of the country before their own personal gains.
The future of the USA is at stake. America needs a strong, honest media to report this disaster. Stop falling for Trump's manipulations to misdirect the press.
Report the truth.
The constant parade of Trump surrogates, Ms. Conway being the most prominent, saying what Trump really meant, that words are just words, that it is always the media's misunderstanding, mishearing, misquoting, mistakenly airing what Trump actually says, that it is all so unfair to Trump, is mind-boggling. Why does no one challenge these lies?
None of the news outlets call out the lying. They need to stop falling for the shiny objects his staff throws out to deflect. It's obvious that Trump is unable to separate his ego from governing. His unhealthy need to be perceived as superior, the best, the winner in any given situation, will jeopardize our nation.
Are we really to believe that all the words that dribble out of the President-elect's mouth or are pounded out by his little fingers on his phone are just meaningless fluff, an endless stream of "look at me, look at me"?
Trump is just tweeting? What the President says he does not mean?
Fake news, constant blatant lies, and a GOP party that is unable to put the good of the country before their own personal gains.
The future of the USA is at stake. America needs a strong, honest media to report this disaster. Stop falling for Trump's manipulations to misdirect the press.
Report the truth.
26
But, alas, that it's all fake does not matter. It's been fake from the outset. Trump's supporters voted out of misplaced rage, and did so while spectacularly ignoring facts. Trump's voters do not read NYT, or any other print media for that matter. It's all Fox, all the time. Trump's cleverness was in recognizing the rage far earlier than all the rest, and tapping into it. He's a master con artist, and many of his supporters are fine with the con as long as it keeps The Others behind them in line. Trump knows this, and he's playing them like a Stradivarius.
11
Yes, Trump's entourage believes they are riding with a king. They must be starved for thrills.
The guy isn't even president yet.
It is a major decision to replace an American plant with a Mexican plant. There are many factors to consider, one of which, obviously, is trade policies.: A shift in emphasis from foreign trade trade to "made in America" will have an effect, whether it comes as a of formal policy or a general adjustment in attitudes.
"Jawboning" or "moral suasion" in economics and politics is an unofficial technique of public and private discussions and arm-twisting, which may work by the implicit threat of future government regulation.
The job numbers over the next few years will tell the story. My guess is that PK hopes they are bad. He would rather see his constituency suffer than see their lot improved through the application of conservative principles, or through the efforts of someone like Trump, who relies on instinct and force of personality rather than intellect. Economic projections are through the roof, US markets are on a roll, interest rates are heading up, all signs are that good things are ahead. It is going to be a rough few years for PK. His worst nightmare: Trump will improve health insurance.
It is a major decision to replace an American plant with a Mexican plant. There are many factors to consider, one of which, obviously, is trade policies.: A shift in emphasis from foreign trade trade to "made in America" will have an effect, whether it comes as a of formal policy or a general adjustment in attitudes.
"Jawboning" or "moral suasion" in economics and politics is an unofficial technique of public and private discussions and arm-twisting, which may work by the implicit threat of future government regulation.
The job numbers over the next few years will tell the story. My guess is that PK hopes they are bad. He would rather see his constituency suffer than see their lot improved through the application of conservative principles, or through the efforts of someone like Trump, who relies on instinct and force of personality rather than intellect. Economic projections are through the roof, US markets are on a roll, interest rates are heading up, all signs are that good things are ahead. It is going to be a rough few years for PK. His worst nightmare: Trump will improve health insurance.
3
We have seen "irrational exuberance" before.
It is simple physics that cutting taxes on the rich is pushing on a rope. It does not make rich people spend more. It bids up the prices of a dwindling supply of securities.
It is simple physics that cutting taxes on the rich is pushing on a rope. It does not make rich people spend more. It bids up the prices of a dwindling supply of securities.
Of course it is not just cutting taxes on the rich.
The price of securities is bid up, more companies raise money in the capital markets, the supply of securities increases, the money raised is spent developing businesses, creating employment. That is how it works.
The price of securities is bid up, more companies raise money in the capital markets, the supply of securities increases, the money raised is spent developing businesses, creating employment. That is how it works.
Ford's decision to abandon its plans to build small cars in Mexico was largely based on the declining popularity of small cars in an era of low gasoline prices. Trump is eager to take credit wherever he can make the gullible and uninformed (or those biased by decades of Republican propaganda) believe he deserves it, whether he does or not. Another factor is that Ford is eager to remain in favor with the government that regulates their products. And the guy isn't even president yet.
Our democracy is truly on the brink because we have a totally uniformed electorate. Fake stories and lies win the day every time. Just look at the story about Chelsea's wedding being paid for by foundation funds, the persistent meme that Hilary was a crook and now Trump's ability to create a theme of saving jobs by flimflam.
No amount of responsible reporting seems to be able to counter the slimy untruths for those in Trump's america.
No amount of responsible reporting seems to be able to counter the slimy untruths for those in Trump's america.
8
These people must believe the truth is fatally awful to be so determined to avoid it.
Even I, hardly a Trump supporter and a reader of the whole story, begin to feel at times lately as if he is looking like a wunderkind after all. Some of that impression comes, not from the jobs "saved," but rather from the impression that he is simply telling everyone (companies, CEOs) what to do and they do it. It is the "strongman" model, the fulfillment of the "Only I can fix that" claim.
I'm sure to his fans this seems like a new day in America when everything will come up roses. How can it not? He is elected and companies bow down; the British PM takes Kerry (and by extension Obama) to task and sides with Trump; there seems to be a promise of friendship with Russia; and the stock market (401ks) is suddenly soaring. Trump is truly the savior in their eyes and he is risen.
I do not see myself as gullible, but I have to admit that at times I find myself wondering if he truly is a master of the world who has fooled us all or whether the reality is really much darker. Then I get some good reality testing and Trump fires off a few more tweets and I realize that he is still a snake oil salesman who doesn't know anything about governing, but is pretty good at pushing his product.
I'm sure to his fans this seems like a new day in America when everything will come up roses. How can it not? He is elected and companies bow down; the British PM takes Kerry (and by extension Obama) to task and sides with Trump; there seems to be a promise of friendship with Russia; and the stock market (401ks) is suddenly soaring. Trump is truly the savior in their eyes and he is risen.
I do not see myself as gullible, but I have to admit that at times I find myself wondering if he truly is a master of the world who has fooled us all or whether the reality is really much darker. Then I get some good reality testing and Trump fires off a few more tweets and I realize that he is still a snake oil salesman who doesn't know anything about governing, but is pretty good at pushing his product.
4
We're witnessing a vast epidemiological experiment to test a hypothesis. We know that "you can fool some of the people all of the time, and all of the people some of the time..." But is it true that you cannot fool all of the people all of the time? How about "you can fool enough of the people all of the time, enough to get your way?" Remember, Trump was elected with the votes of about 29% of eligible voters. Why is that even legal?
13
Hype and manipulation of the media is what trump is all about. The Republicans have always been experts at it, but trump and hs people take it to an entirely new level.
One of the few people in he media that's rolling back the curtain is Rachel Maddow. She made it a point on her latest show to mention that nomination hearings for six of trump's most contentious nominees are scheduled for the same day, which is also the day of trump's first news conference in months. Good luck mining thorough all that comes out that day, especially as trump will be filling the air with chaff.
if ever we needed savvy media and an even savvier public, it's now.
One of the few people in he media that's rolling back the curtain is Rachel Maddow. She made it a point on her latest show to mention that nomination hearings for six of trump's most contentious nominees are scheduled for the same day, which is also the day of trump's first news conference in months. Good luck mining thorough all that comes out that day, especially as trump will be filling the air with chaff.
if ever we needed savvy media and an even savvier public, it's now.
36
Maddow has been doing that for years. Yet she gets creamed in the ratings by the Faux News person on at the same time. That's part of reason Trump will soon be our president.
The age of fake policy indeed. I don't follow anyone's twitter account but I'm subject to his twitter garbage in the news media. Which in my mind makes the reporting of such tweets garbage news.
12
Trump chastized Toyota for moving car production to Mexico. I guess he didn't realize that the jobs were being moved from Canada, but by Trump's logic (sic) Japanese citizens should fight to have those jobs moved home to Japan.
8
That is why Trump is in an ongoing battle to discredit the press. The worst enemy a fraud can have is someone who can expose him. When a sufficient number of Americans believe the press is lying to them on a daily basis then they tune out. What we are left with is a Reality TV host who brings his own sets of reality with him. The sheep are bing herded into a big pen, where they can graze on the grass without a single original thought in their heads.
15
As I understand it, Ford was planning to manufacture in Mexico because inputs, particularly wages, would be lower there than in America.
Have they indicated the price differential between a Ford built in Mexico and a Ford built in Michigan?
Have they indicated the price differential between a Ford built in Mexico and a Ford built in Michigan?
2
Professor Krugman is right (oops, correct) again, which is why I compulsively keep a file named Trumpaganda. So what? Will this article make any difference? What is the editorial policy of the New York Times about reporting fake policy?
8
"Sorry, folks, but headlines that repeat Trump claims about jobs saved, without conveying the essential fakeness of those claims, are a betrayal of journalism."
Forgive my cynicism - but I think that this a deliberate policy by MSM to promote corporatism. Keep the people stupid and shallow by feeding them intellectual candy - all with the purpose of generating revenue for sponsors and the networks.
A typical half hour national news broadcast will feature four or five headline stories - each with about 20 - 30 seconds of discussion; four or five lesser stories with less discussion; a weather report; a magazine type feature that lasts about three minutes detailing a social condition; and towards the end of the show, a "feel good" story about a child raising money for a worthy cause or a veteran being reunited with his family.
And commercials. Lots of commercials.
Its little wonder that Hilliary Clinton's emails got more air time than any discussion of her policy positions.
We can get reasonable coverage of the news from NPR and PBS - but with the country being taken over by the corporatists, I fear its highly likely that their days are numbered.
Forgive my cynicism - but I think that this a deliberate policy by MSM to promote corporatism. Keep the people stupid and shallow by feeding them intellectual candy - all with the purpose of generating revenue for sponsors and the networks.
A typical half hour national news broadcast will feature four or five headline stories - each with about 20 - 30 seconds of discussion; four or five lesser stories with less discussion; a weather report; a magazine type feature that lasts about three minutes detailing a social condition; and towards the end of the show, a "feel good" story about a child raising money for a worthy cause or a veteran being reunited with his family.
And commercials. Lots of commercials.
Its little wonder that Hilliary Clinton's emails got more air time than any discussion of her policy positions.
We can get reasonable coverage of the news from NPR and PBS - but with the country being taken over by the corporatists, I fear its highly likely that their days are numbered.
312
Reality check: I watch the Newshour everyday, they are as likely to go for the false balance approach as anyone.
1
Donald will most likely continue to govern by misleading, unrepresentative anecdotes. Pres. Obama should have governed – and the Democrats still should govern - by *representative* anecdote. This means pounding the message over and over that Obamacare works for this person and this person and that person (including Donald's voters). Just saying repeatedly that millions of people have enrolled and depend on it is helpful but not nearly as powerful as each individual story.
Come on, Dems! It's about time you follow Reagan's lead and supplement your policy proposals and discussions, rich and accurate as they are, with some compelling, heartwarming narratives that confirm their success. For better or worse, in this age of short attention spans and too much information (both good and bad), messaging is just as important as substance.
Come on, Dems! It's about time you follow Reagan's lead and supplement your policy proposals and discussions, rich and accurate as they are, with some compelling, heartwarming narratives that confirm their success. For better or worse, in this age of short attention spans and too much information (both good and bad), messaging is just as important as substance.
6
OK so wwe have a government which doesnt believe in facts. I predict that is six the fact free noise from Twitter will drive us to a standstill.
I like China's approach to Trump; they're focusing on what he does and not what he says. I think that Trump will do little other than line his pockets by raising the price of drinks and accommodations at his Washington hotel. The ones to watch are those around him that believe the store is open. This was demonstrated when the Republicans, in a "kill the lights and grab everything" moment, took as their first act the elimination of the independent ethics authority. Even Trump cringed at that clumsy move.
11
Another way to illuminate the dysfunctional relationship between the President-elect and the press is to ask oneself if Trump would have saved those job if he thought the press would not report it.
4
The lack of substance in Trump's economic claims has been obvious for sometimes. Yet the media have promoted the little actions to show him as a "job creator". The few hundreds saved in Indiana or Michigan paled by comparison to the losses around the country, such as the hundred thousands lost in the oil industry last year. Yet the media keep days of coverage for the hundreds and only a mention of the hundreds of thousands. "Fake policy" indeed .."intended to impress the rubes". Unfortunately the rubes represent a huge slice of the electorate.
4
If only Professor Krugman and had supported real populism as zealously as he now attacks fake populism! With mainstream media supporting real populism this time last year the Democratic Party might have run the candidate who, according to the polls, could beat Trump. Instead they ran the one who couldn't win.
2
The "one who couldn't win" got 3 million more votes than Trump. Get over it. Bernie lost in the primaries-by a much larger margin than Clinton lost to Obama in 08. She was much more gracious about that loss. Think of what progressives could accomplish if instead of bemoaning the past we look ahead and work NOW, including locally, not in 4 years and just at the national level, to make change
3
Wikileaks exposed how the Democrats conspired against Bernie.
1
Anonymous editors write many or even most headlines. Headline bylines might shine some light on a dark practice.
PK appears to write his own headlines. The "Age of Fake Policy" is a good one.
PK appears to write his own headlines. The "Age of Fake Policy" is a good one.
The trolls aren't just commenting, they are producing the news.
3
I am a lifelong Democrat and the parent of a 32 year old transgender son. I first had serious concerns about the recent election outcome the day the Obama administration issued its "Dear colleague" letter mandating bathroom and locker room policy in public schools. We call it a bully pulpit because what the POTUS or PEOTUS says is heard by hundreds of millions of citizens who see it as a reflection of his policies and concerns. Never mind that there were 700 Carrier jobs at stake or that the average public school has, perhaps 1 trans student. IT's the OPTICS stupid and a lot of voters were convinced the Dems cared more the rights of a miniscule, misunderstood, minority than about their job and their economic security. Talk about being politically tone deaf.
2
Whether as individuals or in large groups (think voters), we are pretty awful at assessing rewards or risks accurately. We will picket a nuclear facility and laud a new bicycle factory next door although hundreds more will die in bicycle accidents than nuclear ones. We will praise "saving" 800 jobs in one company while losing 75,000 country-wide.
Critical thinking. That's what we should be seeking as a goal for our students and for ourselves. But no, we are now getting a Secretary of "Education" who wants to give vouchers so parents can choose to support our own madrassas and perpetuate our own myths, continuing the literal human sacrifice of critical thinking yet again. And she is joined by others who scoff at environmental protection, climate change, renewable energy, a living wage with equity in gender pay, And so it goes...and with it, us.
Critical thinking. That's what we should be seeking as a goal for our students and for ourselves. But no, we are now getting a Secretary of "Education" who wants to give vouchers so parents can choose to support our own madrassas and perpetuate our own myths, continuing the literal human sacrifice of critical thinking yet again. And she is joined by others who scoff at environmental protection, climate change, renewable energy, a living wage with equity in gender pay, And so it goes...and with it, us.
1
Dr. Krugman provides a much needed perspective on the relative impacts of these job-saving "stories" - however as all Douglas Adams fans know, most people can't handle a true understanding of perspective (I.e. Total Perspective Vortex).
It will take a remarkable marketing effort to change voting preferences based on perspective. We need another catchy metaphor like the Confidence Fairy.
It will take a remarkable marketing effort to change voting preferences based on perspective. We need another catchy metaphor like the Confidence Fairy.
There was a time when American presidents actively intervened to try to ensure certain results in the economy. It was called "jawboning". The president would point out that some big company, like US Steel, was doing the wrong thing, call the CEO on the national carpet and get results, however temporary.
For the last 7 or 8 presidencies, this habit slipped away. Perhaps it is because economists have told them that it doesn't do much good and can do actual harm. What do those guys know anyway? Well, maybe something.
These days, presidents and their advisors try to watch the macro economy rather than the little jumping around of underlying factors. This could be a mistake because, even if it doesn't have a huge impact, people like to know that their president is engaged and paying attention, especially when it is their job or that of their neighbors on the line.
The fact is that the CEOs and boards of America's biggest corporations have forgotten about an old idea called CIVIC DUTY. In the process, they've also moved far away from the concept that employing and paying workers well helps to create a strong market for everyone. Over time, efficiency would leave no one with any purchasing power; capitalism would kill itself.
I visited Hermosillo, Mx., around the time that Ford announced a big new plant there in the 1980s, so they've been happily making cars there for decades. Whatever laws or regulations are passed, they will try to find a way around, profit over everything.
For the last 7 or 8 presidencies, this habit slipped away. Perhaps it is because economists have told them that it doesn't do much good and can do actual harm. What do those guys know anyway? Well, maybe something.
These days, presidents and their advisors try to watch the macro economy rather than the little jumping around of underlying factors. This could be a mistake because, even if it doesn't have a huge impact, people like to know that their president is engaged and paying attention, especially when it is their job or that of their neighbors on the line.
The fact is that the CEOs and boards of America's biggest corporations have forgotten about an old idea called CIVIC DUTY. In the process, they've also moved far away from the concept that employing and paying workers well helps to create a strong market for everyone. Over time, efficiency would leave no one with any purchasing power; capitalism would kill itself.
I visited Hermosillo, Mx., around the time that Ford announced a big new plant there in the 1980s, so they've been happily making cars there for decades. Whatever laws or regulations are passed, they will try to find a way around, profit over everything.
1
The Age of Tweets. Since this is Trump's weapon of choice, the Democrats will have no choice but to hire a staff to do nothing but keeping up with Trump's tweets and battering down his illogical and inconsistent rants. Even before breakfast he tweeted, without cause, that NBC had already seen a copy of the super-confidential intelligence report he is to get today. Who is tearing that unfounded claim apart? (Conversely, if it were true, who is opening up an investigation into espionage?). Everything Trump tweets must me countered by "prove it!"
Decent light industrial jobs (including welding, the darling of the analysts) go unfilled for months in and near the small county seat in south Wisconsin where I live. The farm work is done almost exclusively by undocumented immigrants who are the most conspicuously industrious members of the working class. Dairy farms and cheese factories would be dead in the water without them. Something pretty complicated is going on here, and a lot of it has to do with the product being turned out by the school systems and American families. Nothing I hear from Trump or read from Krugman seems to be getting at it.
4
Oh yeah they do do a lot of work don't they. Looks like we need to replace these illegals after we kick them out. Ohhh wait we got a whole working class of homeless welfare cases all over the place. Gosh everyone will be employed once we kick out the people that don't belong here. An gosh once people earn money they won't need free gov food and handout.. Gosh what will happen then? Golly we won't need as much tax on the middle class to pay for the lower class to live. Mexicans won't be sending all the money they earn back to mexico. Our money stays in America with Americans. It could have a snowball effect an bring us away from this socialist gov dependent environment liberals put us into.
"Fake" is in right now, isn't it. That concept will take us only this far. Please don't overuse.
1
Didn't George w Bush lead us into a war with fake news and fears?
2
If this guy can use his public persona to shine a light on those very real people who make draconian business decisions from behind the corporate curtain - if he can get them to take public responsibility for the things they do to workers' stability, we could hope it'd be a good start towards a climate of concern for our communities.
In this increasingly digitized world, we could use a jolt of genuine empathy for our population from the business world.
And to make such an aesthetic last, I would hope that this guy will broaden his attention span and implement some practical laws - rules of the road with teeth - to solidify a deeper allegiance to our national good.
I hope so. I really don't expect it to happen, but a little positive projection helps me focus on what the guy will actually be doing, rather than the quotidian kerfuffles he raises.
Mass media: Please Help.
And thank you, Paul Krugman.
In this increasingly digitized world, we could use a jolt of genuine empathy for our population from the business world.
And to make such an aesthetic last, I would hope that this guy will broaden his attention span and implement some practical laws - rules of the road with teeth - to solidify a deeper allegiance to our national good.
I hope so. I really don't expect it to happen, but a little positive projection helps me focus on what the guy will actually be doing, rather than the quotidian kerfuffles he raises.
Mass media: Please Help.
And thank you, Paul Krugman.
Now contrast China's real policies with Trump's GOP policies, invariably based on pure fraud.
Rapid solar and wind power development, basic brilliant ideas to combat the reality of manmade oil-gas-coal global warming, is now China's official public policy.
China intends to spend more than $360 billion through 2020 on renewable power sources like solar and wind and create 13 million jobs in the renewable energy sector by 2020.
Greenpeace estimates China installed an average of more than one wind turbine every hour of every day in 2015, and covered the equivalent of one soccer field every hour with solar panels.
China is still the biggest polluter in the world, but at least they don't have their political heads stuck in the rear ends of Exxon-Mobil, the Koch Brothers and the American Petroleum Institute.
What is the Trumpublican's alternative energy policy ?
"Climate change is a (Chinese) hoax"
"Drill, baby, drill !"
"Solyndra !"
"It's cold outside"
"Bring back 18th century coal !"
As China speeds toward the future and dominates the alternative energy market and builds new infrastructure, America's antedeluvian right-wing and Gas Oil Polluters will inaugurate the Exxon Valdez in two weeks to Make America 1878 Again.
The American candidate who surfed the Birther Lie and a thousand other lies to political stardom is the real hoax.
As China rises to the occasion, Trump's Republistan sinks into Know Nothing stupidity, oily greed and really destructive public policy.
Rapid solar and wind power development, basic brilliant ideas to combat the reality of manmade oil-gas-coal global warming, is now China's official public policy.
China intends to spend more than $360 billion through 2020 on renewable power sources like solar and wind and create 13 million jobs in the renewable energy sector by 2020.
Greenpeace estimates China installed an average of more than one wind turbine every hour of every day in 2015, and covered the equivalent of one soccer field every hour with solar panels.
China is still the biggest polluter in the world, but at least they don't have their political heads stuck in the rear ends of Exxon-Mobil, the Koch Brothers and the American Petroleum Institute.
What is the Trumpublican's alternative energy policy ?
"Climate change is a (Chinese) hoax"
"Drill, baby, drill !"
"Solyndra !"
"It's cold outside"
"Bring back 18th century coal !"
As China speeds toward the future and dominates the alternative energy market and builds new infrastructure, America's antedeluvian right-wing and Gas Oil Polluters will inaugurate the Exxon Valdez in two weeks to Make America 1878 Again.
The American candidate who surfed the Birther Lie and a thousand other lies to political stardom is the real hoax.
As China rises to the occasion, Trump's Republistan sinks into Know Nothing stupidity, oily greed and really destructive public policy.
473
China might be investing in the future, but only if those investments don't get in the way of the iron-grip rule of the abhorrent, illiberal, undemocratic Communist Party. The way China runs things is certainly not something to look up to, and for all of Donald Trump's faults, his tough on China rhetoric is something I can actually get behind.
The problem here is the following. The interventions from Trump may be insignificant for the country as a whole. But not for the people whose jobs have been saved. It is always easier to find support (and admiration, which The Donald craves) in a few specific cases than in the aggregate, where policies may be overall more effective but which effects are more diffuse and less easy to trace.
In other words, it is easy for media to find a few good souls at Carrier or Ford to say good words for Trump and his Twitter edicts (whether they have had a real effect or not). The link seems also quite obvious between intervention and results. Not so easy for these same media to find people that will have something good to say about the good state of the overall economy - the effect may be bigger but it is more diffuse and less easy to associate with a specific govt intervention.
Trump knows it and hence goes for the easy win to get admiration, which is why he joined the presidential race in the first place.
Add to this that media outside a few precious ones these days spend little time on news analysis and lots on infotainment, and you have the perfect situation for the dumbing down of the political discourse that we continue to see.
In other words, it is easy for media to find a few good souls at Carrier or Ford to say good words for Trump and his Twitter edicts (whether they have had a real effect or not). The link seems also quite obvious between intervention and results. Not so easy for these same media to find people that will have something good to say about the good state of the overall economy - the effect may be bigger but it is more diffuse and less easy to associate with a specific govt intervention.
Trump knows it and hence goes for the easy win to get admiration, which is why he joined the presidential race in the first place.
Add to this that media outside a few precious ones these days spend little time on news analysis and lots on infotainment, and you have the perfect situation for the dumbing down of the political discourse that we continue to see.
2
How would you feel about Trump if he saved your job?
1
Paul, what makes Trump taking credit for the 800 jobs, "saved" all the more revolting and what also amounts to "fake news" is the $7.0 million tax incentive given by the state to save the jobs. Connecticut does this all the time whenever a company announces they are moving their headquarters/facilities outside the state. The incentives only delays by one or two years the company's original plans.
3
Fake policy is the new false equivalence.
2
Tell that to millions of Iraqis who lost their country to shambles because of George's fake false equivalence (no relation to 9-11).
1
Neither Trump's nor Clinton's proposals will help the vast majority of displaced workers.;
HRC's proposal to have laid off coal miners become call center operators at a fraction of their previous wage is nonsense.
An interesting times article
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/12/09/upshot/what-would-it-take-to-replace-t...®ion=bottom-well&WT.nav=bottom-well&_r=0
suggested using a negative income tax credit to make up the lost income of displaced workers.
I am not an economist and don't know if the program would work.
The cost was estimated at 1 T /ten years or 100 B /year.
Taxing all dividends and capital gains as ordinary income and taxing unrealized capital gains at death [ending step up in basis] would raise 200 B /year [twice the cost of the program].
We could use the corporate tax code.
Reward with lower corporate taxes companies that manufacture in the US and therefore hire in the US.
Penalize with higher taxes companies that manufacture out of the US and therefore hire out of the US.
HRC's proposal to have laid off coal miners become call center operators at a fraction of their previous wage is nonsense.
An interesting times article
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/12/09/upshot/what-would-it-take-to-replace-t...®ion=bottom-well&WT.nav=bottom-well&_r=0
suggested using a negative income tax credit to make up the lost income of displaced workers.
I am not an economist and don't know if the program would work.
The cost was estimated at 1 T /ten years or 100 B /year.
Taxing all dividends and capital gains as ordinary income and taxing unrealized capital gains at death [ending step up in basis] would raise 200 B /year [twice the cost of the program].
We could use the corporate tax code.
Reward with lower corporate taxes companies that manufacture in the US and therefore hire in the US.
Penalize with higher taxes companies that manufacture out of the US and therefore hire out of the US.
1
Politicians have always taken credit for any good economic news and blamed others for bad economic news. Bill Clinton is given credit for the "roaring" 90s; the fact is he had little to do with it. The economic legacy of any president is generally seen a decade after they leave office. Therefore, the economic crash of the 2007 can really be placed at the doorstep of Bill Clinton with assistance of Bush.
Presidents can motivate certain economic trends if they are willing to use their political capital. Trump has chosen to use some of his pushing for American manufacturing. Whether this works or not remains to be seen. But if all economics is really nothing more than human behavior in motion, Trump's actions may be just what our economy needs.
Presidents can motivate certain economic trends if they are willing to use their political capital. Trump has chosen to use some of his pushing for American manufacturing. Whether this works or not remains to be seen. But if all economics is really nothing more than human behavior in motion, Trump's actions may be just what our economy needs.
1
The decline of business ethics since the election of that other overblown Republican lummox Ronald Reagan has been precipitous and deep.
More problems are on the way when students, particularly college students, demand real grades for a fake education. Why bother to pay attention in class, to listen, to learn, to do real papers with extensive, honest research, to memorize facts, read, think, discuss and argue facts when, at the highest level of our country fakery is enthroned on a pedestal? Oh, those beautiful libraries everywhere in our land! How long before we will demolish them. burn the books and build hotels or parking lots where they now stand?
3
You have not been paying attention to Mike Rowe have you?
College students today are paying for an education that doesn't prepare them for real jobs that even come close to paying off their student loans.
And no one is going to burn books or demolish schools to build hotels, that is EXACTLY the false hyperbole that the author is talking about. Colleges and University are going to fail under their own weight and costs.
College students today are paying for an education that doesn't prepare them for real jobs that even come close to paying off their student loans.
And no one is going to burn books or demolish schools to build hotels, that is EXACTLY the false hyperbole that the author is talking about. Colleges and University are going to fail under their own weight and costs.
1
and why would the NYT - given its numerous failures in Campaign 15/16 - be expected to do anything of the sort?
4
I think it's naive to expect the journalism "industry" to assume their historically civic responsibility to inform the electorate, when in recent history they behave as having a fiduciary responsibility to sell newspapers. Similar to the shareholder value revolution in corporate governance, which crushed unions in service to shareholders and the working class, the media have punted civic duty in favor earning a buck. When the truth matters more than cash, then and only then can we celebrate the return of a truly informed electorate.
11
Exactly correct about the Journalistic Industry! The entire focus on the Russians is ironic.
The NYT and CNN did everything that they could do to influence the Presidential election. From mocking Trump and calling him and his supporters buffoons to actively working with the Democrats to pre-approve stories, downplay National Security violations and rig debates.
What did the Russians do? They published the truth about what the Democrats were doing and saying! They didn't run some Gurpegi disinformation campaign. They ran a Truth campaign.
The NYT and CNN did everything that they could do to influence the Presidential election. From mocking Trump and calling him and his supporters buffoons to actively working with the Democrats to pre-approve stories, downplay National Security violations and rig debates.
What did the Russians do? They published the truth about what the Democrats were doing and saying! They didn't run some Gurpegi disinformation campaign. They ran a Truth campaign.
Shareholders are just more suckers to be ripped off now.
Nobel-Prize winner Mr. Krugman is a big fan of Nobel-Prize winner President Obama. It must be a fraternity.
Since Mr. Trump is (not yet - likely never) a Nobel-Prize winner, he is not a member of the magic circle - and therefore anything and EVERYthing that Mr. Trump does will not measure up to the high standards of Nobel-Prize winners - and open to reflexive (not reflective) criticism by Mr. Krugman.
As an economist (who is familiar with the importance of numbers), Mr, Krugman should identify the threshold for "stunts" about job-saving. Should anything below 1000 jobs saved be designated a "stunt"? Should the number be 2000? Or 5000? An explanation would be appreciated.
Since Mr. Trump is (not yet - likely never) a Nobel-Prize winner, he is not a member of the magic circle - and therefore anything and EVERYthing that Mr. Trump does will not measure up to the high standards of Nobel-Prize winners - and open to reflexive (not reflective) criticism by Mr. Krugman.
As an economist (who is familiar with the importance of numbers), Mr, Krugman should identify the threshold for "stunts" about job-saving. Should anything below 1000 jobs saved be designated a "stunt"? Should the number be 2000? Or 5000? An explanation would be appreciated.
4
$7 million from the taxpayers of Indiana just makes it look like a bribe.
As usual, this time from alex, those who have failed to endure the rigor of intellectual training, those poorly educated beloved by trump, will disparage the accomplishments of degree holders.
>
You insist on talking/using numbers. Trump insists on talking/using symbols.
The media also is attached to symbols. Man is a symbolic animal. If this election proves anything, it is that symbols trump numbers and facts. One needs to learn to translate complex facts into symbols, and since most of the Crazy Apes aren't the brightest bulbs, these symbols should be simple and relate to the darker side of the human psyche, i.e., the "me" side
"Human beings", writes John N. Gray, "are animals that have equipped themselves with symbols. Helping deal with a world they do not understand, symbols are useful tools; but humans have an inveterate tendency to think and act as if the world they have made from these symbols actually exists. Their minds –they like to think –are built on the model of the cosmos. A great deal of philosophy and religion is not much more than a rationalization of this conceit."...
"Science is not distinguished from myth by science being literally true and myth only a type of poetic analogy. While their aims are different, both are composed of symbols we use to deal with a slippery world."..."It is a strange fancy to suppose that science can bring reason to an irrational world, when all it can ever do is give another twist to the normal madness"
Like Friedrich Hölderlin, perceiving the approach of my madness, I began to experience myself as a false priest about to be disciplined for my hubris, for crossing the boundary between mortals and the the Gods
You insist on talking/using numbers. Trump insists on talking/using symbols.
The media also is attached to symbols. Man is a symbolic animal. If this election proves anything, it is that symbols trump numbers and facts. One needs to learn to translate complex facts into symbols, and since most of the Crazy Apes aren't the brightest bulbs, these symbols should be simple and relate to the darker side of the human psyche, i.e., the "me" side
"Human beings", writes John N. Gray, "are animals that have equipped themselves with symbols. Helping deal with a world they do not understand, symbols are useful tools; but humans have an inveterate tendency to think and act as if the world they have made from these symbols actually exists. Their minds –they like to think –are built on the model of the cosmos. A great deal of philosophy and religion is not much more than a rationalization of this conceit."...
"Science is not distinguished from myth by science being literally true and myth only a type of poetic analogy. While their aims are different, both are composed of symbols we use to deal with a slippery world."..."It is a strange fancy to suppose that science can bring reason to an irrational world, when all it can ever do is give another twist to the normal madness"
Like Friedrich Hölderlin, perceiving the approach of my madness, I began to experience myself as a false priest about to be disciplined for my hubris, for crossing the boundary between mortals and the the Gods
5
Even though his opinion is spot on when it comes to explaining in simple terms what a ruse Trump is spinning concerning jobs and, well, everything else, Professor Krugman would be much more effective in getting the word out to the masses if he were to write using a pseudonym. Right now if you mention his name or the NYT to any Trump supporter you've lost them immediately when it comes to subverting their thinking. I'm suggesting here that a fake identity and easy to digest information published in other media outlets might be an effective route to inform the "rubes" of the scam they voted to participate in and get them to start thinking about what is really going on.
5
"Sorry, folks, but headlines that repeat Trump claims about jobs saved, without conveying the essential fakeness of those claims, are a betrayal of journalism."
You ought to keep reminding the editors of the New York Times this, Dr. Krugman.
You ought to keep reminding the editors of the New York Times this, Dr. Krugman.
5
In the case of Carrier, that was 800 Democrat voting, union families that had Christmas presents under the tree. Instead of worrying about how to keep the house that the tree is in.
That's a win for those 800 people and the 700 Americans families at Ford and the next 1000, etc. Every win is a win.
Has Mr Krugman save any jobs in the last Decade or two or three? Because Trump has crat d and saved them (his oft bespoke bankruptcies did exactly that - saved union jobs)!
That's a win for those 800 people and the 700 Americans families at Ford and the next 1000, etc. Every win is a win.
Has Mr Krugman save any jobs in the last Decade or two or three? Because Trump has crat d and saved them (his oft bespoke bankruptcies did exactly that - saved union jobs)!
Paul Krugman has been right on, lately, but I can't forget the shabby treatment that he gave Bernie Sanders in his column during the Democratic primary. He was wrong about that, and we're reaping the consequences of the "wisdom" of Mr. Krugman, the NYT, and the Democratic establishment. Had Bernie won, there would be no "fake policy," only substance.
6
Bernie really was a doddering old fool played by dark money and phony volunteers out of nowhere. Just more noise in an election utterly void of maturity or integrity.
"it may have sounded as if Mr. Trump was doing something substantive by intervening with Carrier, but he wasn’t. This was fake policy — a show intended to impress the rubes, not to achieve real results."
And
"Yet his real policy agenda, aside from the looming trade war, is standard-issue modern Republicanism: huge tax cuts for billionaires and savage cuts to public programs, including those essential to many Trump voters."
Yet again, that "democratic shill" Paul Krugman does the dirty deed by destroying Republican plans and policies by the sleazy cheat of using those terribly unfair biased things called FACTS!
PK is constantly attacked by reactionaries who dispute his facts and logic. It's not that Prof Krugman isn't biased: He is, so am I, and so is everyone else. It's that he supports his position with ironclad facts, statistics and analysis that consistently shows the GOP's plan to be nothing but benefits for the very rich at the cost of the ordinary person, the environment, and the foundation of our democratic republic.
Worse, PK shows that Trump lives in a fantasy world where Trump is always right (even as he reverses himself in a single sentence), any one who criticizes him is "biased", "dishonest", "unfair" or "a nasty woman".
We are about to enter the most dangerous time with the greatest threat to our republic since the Civil War.
And
"Yet his real policy agenda, aside from the looming trade war, is standard-issue modern Republicanism: huge tax cuts for billionaires and savage cuts to public programs, including those essential to many Trump voters."
Yet again, that "democratic shill" Paul Krugman does the dirty deed by destroying Republican plans and policies by the sleazy cheat of using those terribly unfair biased things called FACTS!
PK is constantly attacked by reactionaries who dispute his facts and logic. It's not that Prof Krugman isn't biased: He is, so am I, and so is everyone else. It's that he supports his position with ironclad facts, statistics and analysis that consistently shows the GOP's plan to be nothing but benefits for the very rich at the cost of the ordinary person, the environment, and the foundation of our democratic republic.
Worse, PK shows that Trump lives in a fantasy world where Trump is always right (even as he reverses himself in a single sentence), any one who criticizes him is "biased", "dishonest", "unfair" or "a nasty woman".
We are about to enter the most dangerous time with the greatest threat to our republic since the Civil War.
28
Republican pretensions to objectivity demonstrate just how little introspection there is in any of them.
1
This editorial should be required reading for every high school student in America. They should be told to think about it, research the points made, and form their own conclusions.
Because not only are those students going to be entering the job market soon, they're going to be doing it in the aftermath of Trump.
Because not only are those students going to be entering the job market soon, they're going to be doing it in the aftermath of Trump.
2
Unfortunately, there's every incentive for journalists to do what a lot of us do: get by. Journalists have kids to pick up from school. They have mortgages and vacations to pay for. They can A) watch Trump's twitter feed, "report" on what they find there, and be out of the office by 5p; or B) they can do real journalism that requires late nights, following leads that don't go anywhere, requires travel to places they don't necessarily want to go, and puts strain on their families. Which do you think they choose?
There are other versions of this. There's the version where journalists are in awe of the privileges and access they get--riding Air Force One, getting to see or ride in top secret military equipment, getting off the record interviews with top officials; resulting in softball journalism. Then there's the version where ambitious students who've always been overly deferential to their teachers go to Ivy League schools and become journalists who are overly deferential to political leaders. The list goes on. Rarely does it include journalists who really do see what's going on and are able to report on it. Those are the people we need right now and there are too few of them and too few publications that nurture and provide a forum for them.
There are other versions of this. There's the version where journalists are in awe of the privileges and access they get--riding Air Force One, getting to see or ride in top secret military equipment, getting off the record interviews with top officials; resulting in softball journalism. Then there's the version where ambitious students who've always been overly deferential to their teachers go to Ivy League schools and become journalists who are overly deferential to political leaders. The list goes on. Rarely does it include journalists who really do see what's going on and are able to report on it. Those are the people we need right now and there are too few of them and too few publications that nurture and provide a forum for them.
13
If you're a political juvenile delinquent, your land of opportunity is the Republican Party and right wing media sociopathy.
The only thing us individuals can do right this minute is to try and get the facts out. Call out president elect Tweety Bird on every hype and stunt. The catastrophe that is unfolding before our eyes may just enable us to fight at the local level and win. They win against the odds in 2018.
Resist.
Resist.
2
Mr. Krugman is undoubted right that the statistics in on his side. However, what come to mind is what Yoda said, "Into exile, I must go. *Failed*, I have." I am sorry but logic has failed to convince the people in this election cycle. While I applaud Mr. Krugman and others for keep sounding the alarm, and they should, people won't listen now. While I hope not, things will go much worse now before the tide will turn. I hope that when the tide turns, there are still pieces still to pick up.
2
That's funny b/c I was going to quote Admiral Ackbar in advising journalists to avoid the distractions provided by Trump's twitter feed and job saving announcements: "It's a trap!"
The Elect's eureka moments are media manufactured: replace the big with the small, lie and bully, create a myth and become “the hero with a thousand faces” who in this modern version embraces and wallows in sin, instability and self-deceit. Why is it acceptable?
Because the backdrop behind the mythical cretin is an age of excess! The contradiction in this age of excess (marked by massive secret capital, legal and illegal, by mass violent deaths, by global rapes and burning villages, by Russia actually engaging in a shooting war in Syria, by random street violence, both black and white; by the break down of institutions and ethics (Six hearings in a single day! Playing Russian roulette with healthcare, turning death into a government recall. A mass killer saying he is sane. The phantasmagoria of 14 year old, 400 lb children on a bed stalemating trained professionals) is that excess creates waste!
It leads to more jobs lost. More sick and ill dying. More wages stagnant. More houses unsold. Detroit is the new America—a town where excess imploded, but adjacent Grosse Pointe. its 5,400 residents with incomes a $100,000 per family thrives still. Not class struggle, but cultural blindness drives America. Color still defines the home team. White wealth is my wealth, even if I am poor. It's a feature of a political economy tuned for centuries for exploitation denied by Texas schoolbooks. It exploits labor to extract wealth and leaves waste and hate. (Bankruptcies, a case study.)
Because the backdrop behind the mythical cretin is an age of excess! The contradiction in this age of excess (marked by massive secret capital, legal and illegal, by mass violent deaths, by global rapes and burning villages, by Russia actually engaging in a shooting war in Syria, by random street violence, both black and white; by the break down of institutions and ethics (Six hearings in a single day! Playing Russian roulette with healthcare, turning death into a government recall. A mass killer saying he is sane. The phantasmagoria of 14 year old, 400 lb children on a bed stalemating trained professionals) is that excess creates waste!
It leads to more jobs lost. More sick and ill dying. More wages stagnant. More houses unsold. Detroit is the new America—a town where excess imploded, but adjacent Grosse Pointe. its 5,400 residents with incomes a $100,000 per family thrives still. Not class struggle, but cultural blindness drives America. Color still defines the home team. White wealth is my wealth, even if I am poor. It's a feature of a political economy tuned for centuries for exploitation denied by Texas schoolbooks. It exploits labor to extract wealth and leaves waste and hate. (Bankruptcies, a case study.)
10
Notes on stats/Jobs:
For the past year, 5.5 to 5.6 million jobs are unfilled every month, the Labor department reports. That's right: 5.5 million jobs are open right now! Every month!
The quit rate for jobs is 2.1%; the lay-off and discharge (separations) rate is 1%; twice as many workers leave as are separated.
Those seeking work but unable to find it has dropped from a high of 2.8 million in 2012 to 1.9 million today. (The work force participation rate is down 4 points from 2009 (66.2% to 62.7%); but unfilled jobs numbers are at an all-time high, above the rate in 2002! Aggregate real disposable personal income is $12.67 trillion (Nov.). [All data from FRED, at the St. Louis Fed.]
One: The global economy, inefficiency and stagnant wages are acting as the drag on jobs and prosperity.
Two: battling over tariffs and taxes does not lay a foundation for the future! How exactly is American business preparing for a global middle class (chiefly Asian and trans-Pacific) that will double in size, expanding to 5 billion by 2030? How will the US reposition its core strengths, financing and heavy precision manufacturing, as global demand for rail projects (from municipal passenger systems to country and continent-long cargo lines (Brazil, Spain, the One Belt, One Road project involving 60 countries)) among other infrastructure demands (power/energy) increase? Fights over the status quo don't build a future or win tomorrow! Where is the planning and vision?
For the past year, 5.5 to 5.6 million jobs are unfilled every month, the Labor department reports. That's right: 5.5 million jobs are open right now! Every month!
The quit rate for jobs is 2.1%; the lay-off and discharge (separations) rate is 1%; twice as many workers leave as are separated.
Those seeking work but unable to find it has dropped from a high of 2.8 million in 2012 to 1.9 million today. (The work force participation rate is down 4 points from 2009 (66.2% to 62.7%); but unfilled jobs numbers are at an all-time high, above the rate in 2002! Aggregate real disposable personal income is $12.67 trillion (Nov.). [All data from FRED, at the St. Louis Fed.]
One: The global economy, inefficiency and stagnant wages are acting as the drag on jobs and prosperity.
Two: battling over tariffs and taxes does not lay a foundation for the future! How exactly is American business preparing for a global middle class (chiefly Asian and trans-Pacific) that will double in size, expanding to 5 billion by 2030? How will the US reposition its core strengths, financing and heavy precision manufacturing, as global demand for rail projects (from municipal passenger systems to country and continent-long cargo lines (Brazil, Spain, the One Belt, One Road project involving 60 countries)) among other infrastructure demands (power/energy) increase? Fights over the status quo don't build a future or win tomorrow! Where is the planning and vision?
2
Among the excesses of fake policy: The Republican Congress just approved a new rule (excess is sometimes silly and mean overreach): no selfies! No selfies on the the floor or in the chamber! Fines and referrals if you do!
Wow. Awesome post.
1
The Carrier episode may deserve ridicule but Donald Trump understands symbolic politics far better than Hillary Clinton or Paul Krugman. While they wander into the complexities of industrial policy Trump grabs the headlines, gives his favorite talking heads something positive to promote, and moves on to the next act. People do not notice that Macy's announces the end of 10,000 jobs; they are not industrial jobs held by real Americans in Toledo, they are retail jobs, many held by minority women, in cookie-cutter shopping malls. Barack Obama never grasped, or perhaps never could bring himself to pursue, the deep desire of many American voters for the arrest and trial of a fine array of bankers and financial service wizards who drove millions of Americans from their homes. The trials would have dragged on, the ineptitude and disinterest of Eric Holder would have resulted in mistrials or verdicts of innocence in most cases, but there would have been action. Rump time after time promises a beautiful wall paid for by Mexico; it now appears we will get more fencing paid for by the US taxpayer. But by the time that becomes apparent Trump will have another "stunt" to distract attention. He embraces Julian Assange, provoking conversation, while his attacks on the American intelligence community cover his dalliance with the Russians. We will see more fake news internationally to draw attention away from Trump's descent into the heart of darkness as a Russian pawn tweeting distractions.
1
So, it's all about "clicks," eh?
Your rationalization for this shallow and ultimately destructive approach to the serious business of governance is more than merely troubling. It is frightening.
Your rationalization for this shallow and ultimately destructive approach to the serious business of governance is more than merely troubling. It is frightening.
Any good politician is part showman, and the media will never call out their stunts for what they are, because that is actually up to the readers to decide. I bet many of Trump's supporters thought of the Trump factory intervention as more symbolic than substantive. Those that that didn't are his groupies anyway and probably wouldn't believe a more interventionist news media, even if it existed- which it never has in this country- beyond partisan media.
I'm hopeful that the Republicans will not be willing to pay the political price of tearing away insurance from millions of Americans before they construct something that will replace the ACA.
Trump lies the way most people breathe. Until he assumes the responsibility of president, no one has any idea what he's actually going to do. I'm hoping he decides to make a fool out of all of us and promotes a relatively progressive agenda that allows the GOP to take some credit and him the main course.
Maybe his desire to trick his liberal detractors along with the wish to be a hero in his home town will lead to an agenda none of us predict. Sure, it's a long shot, but who can predict the behavior of a lying sociopath.
I'm hopeful that the Republicans will not be willing to pay the political price of tearing away insurance from millions of Americans before they construct something that will replace the ACA.
Trump lies the way most people breathe. Until he assumes the responsibility of president, no one has any idea what he's actually going to do. I'm hoping he decides to make a fool out of all of us and promotes a relatively progressive agenda that allows the GOP to take some credit and him the main course.
Maybe his desire to trick his liberal detractors along with the wish to be a hero in his home town will lead to an agenda none of us predict. Sure, it's a long shot, but who can predict the behavior of a lying sociopath.
3
The irony, of course, is that Trump and the GOP bow at the altar of unfettered capitalism while intervening in corporate decisions geared toward maximizing profits; or so it seems. Though Trump's interventions thus far are selective and serve his pseudo-populist agenda, he and the GOP know, as illustrated by the Carrier deal, that businesses will not comply without inducements. The Trump/GOP program is to establish a stable, long-term, business-friendly environment that extends such inducements by removing regulatory and oversight constraints, enacting favorable tax policies, reducing if not eliminating union/labor impact, and widening the revolving door for executives to smoothly transition between business and government positions. Absent from this agenda, thus far, is any expressed concern for workers' benefits. Elimination of the ACA and a history of diminishing corporate pension benefits, among other indices, will further accentuate this imbalance. But while this corporate-friendly plan is unfolding, we are content to look at and be distracted by isolated shiny-object events like Carrier and Ford. It's just a matter of time.
4
So, it is yet again a failing of the media that allows the Great Orange One to appear greater than he really is, to appear to be a man of the people aside a man of the plutocrats. As long as the broadcast media are driven by the profit motive (the print media are little better), as long as they forget that we the people allow the access to the airwaves, we are all subject to their groveling. As long as social media see themselves as mere conduits, not in any way responsible for content, we are all subject to an avalanche of lies and half-truths. I suspect Alexander Hamilton and John Adams and most of the Founding Fathers would be outraged and fearful; I suspect Mr Jefferson is smiling, but then he was a fan of Robespierre and the others who made the Paris streets red with blood and wanted the same to nourish the Liberty Tree.
5
Imagine Hamilton, Jefferson and Adams debating whether trans-sexuals should use the bathrooms of their birth? That the Supreme Court chooses to spend time ruling on the constitutionality of laws by North Carolina and soon by Texas?
"One thing you can do, of course, is steer business to Trump hotels and other businesses."
If Trump is not unmasked as a Putin puppet and actually accedes to the Presidency in a couple of weeks, staying at his hotels will constitute a clear violation of the emoluments clause of our constitution.
If through fear or weakness we fail to fight for what is a clear and present danger, the ecomomy will be the least of our problems as we cease to be a country of laws.
Demand a revote!
Disclose the tax returns!
If Trump is not unmasked as a Putin puppet and actually accedes to the Presidency in a couple of weeks, staying at his hotels will constitute a clear violation of the emoluments clause of our constitution.
If through fear or weakness we fail to fight for what is a clear and present danger, the ecomomy will be the least of our problems as we cease to be a country of laws.
Demand a revote!
Disclose the tax returns!
13
This has been a problem intrinsic to the practice of journalism since its very beginning. The question is how to report what someone says without any context testing its possible exaggeration or falsity. In my opinion, the fact that the effort is ultimately impossible should not keep reporters or editors from trying. But individuals like Donald Trump, whose scope of knowledge is apparently limited in respect to challenging what may be convenient for him to say, presents the problem in its ultimate form. Clearly, it does not work merely to report the words, and let the public make up its mind. That is one reason America has developed a thriving Public Relations industry.
For Donald Trump, Public Relations and the mention of himself in a lofty capacity count far more than what he happens to be saying, and he makes it a point never to take back anything, even if he has contradicted himself. (As in "Who will pay for the wall? Mexico?", whereas his upcoming budget proposes the wall as a public expense.)The recent practice of headlines stating that "Trumps repeats false assertion," are an innovation within my memory. But clearly much more needs to be done in behalf of the public's right to know and not to be misinformed by newspapers merely repeating the assertions of important people.
For Donald Trump, Public Relations and the mention of himself in a lofty capacity count far more than what he happens to be saying, and he makes it a point never to take back anything, even if he has contradicted himself. (As in "Who will pay for the wall? Mexico?", whereas his upcoming budget proposes the wall as a public expense.)The recent practice of headlines stating that "Trumps repeats false assertion," are an innovation within my memory. But clearly much more needs to be done in behalf of the public's right to know and not to be misinformed by newspapers merely repeating the assertions of important people.
4
Each of us has a basis for comparison by which we judge the accuracy or importance of any new information.
I have asserted that the major difference between a typical conservative and a typical liberal is radius of concern. A conservative's radius is short, but in my experience within that radius the conservative is as good a person as you might find. Friends, family, church groups: all receive support. Racial and sexual preference minorities reside outside the radius; hence, they receive little empathy.
Although the liberal's radius embraces a larger population group, that circle of concern is less illuminated because it is so much larger. Distant details must be magnified if properly put into perspective.
I mention this difference because reporting on the world outside the short radius need not be distorted in order to create distortion. To one who sees clearly only what's near, "saving" 800 jobs is a magnificent accomplishment, one that would employ more than everyone one knows personally.
This is why stories such as the one Reagan's team made up about welfare queens and their pink Cadillacs is of a piece with the transgender sexual predator tropes told over campfires in North Carolina and the stories in early 2009 about how our new Kenyan President was tanking the stock market. These stories are effective because they are specific and visceral.
Countering such stories will ever be impossible, but it would seem incumbent on serious journalists to at least try.
I have asserted that the major difference between a typical conservative and a typical liberal is radius of concern. A conservative's radius is short, but in my experience within that radius the conservative is as good a person as you might find. Friends, family, church groups: all receive support. Racial and sexual preference minorities reside outside the radius; hence, they receive little empathy.
Although the liberal's radius embraces a larger population group, that circle of concern is less illuminated because it is so much larger. Distant details must be magnified if properly put into perspective.
I mention this difference because reporting on the world outside the short radius need not be distorted in order to create distortion. To one who sees clearly only what's near, "saving" 800 jobs is a magnificent accomplishment, one that would employ more than everyone one knows personally.
This is why stories such as the one Reagan's team made up about welfare queens and their pink Cadillacs is of a piece with the transgender sexual predator tropes told over campfires in North Carolina and the stories in early 2009 about how our new Kenyan President was tanking the stock market. These stories are effective because they are specific and visceral.
Countering such stories will ever be impossible, but it would seem incumbent on serious journalists to at least try.
9
Josef Stalin supposedly said, "a death is a tragedy, a million deaths is a statistic." Trump seems to have an instinctive appreciation for this type of psychology. Although the Bureau of Labor Statistics published numbers showing an increase in the real income of Americans during 2015, including a 5.2% rise in the supposedly left-behind Midwest, statistics don't make good new stories. For most people, discussions based on statistics is white noise.
Trump saving a thousand jobs at Carrier, with photo ops with smiling factory workers, is a human interest story that people can cling onto. Never mind corporate shareholders benefited more than the workers. Never mind this was a drop in the bucket and held no long-term answers. It made for a good news story, and that meant it was good for Trump.
And at the end of the day, Trump only cares about only what is good for Trump.
Trump saving a thousand jobs at Carrier, with photo ops with smiling factory workers, is a human interest story that people can cling onto. Never mind corporate shareholders benefited more than the workers. Never mind this was a drop in the bucket and held no long-term answers. It made for a good news story, and that meant it was good for Trump.
And at the end of the day, Trump only cares about only what is good for Trump.
10
It is useful to point out fake or inadequate "solutions" to low pay and job insecurity. However, workers smell a rat, and some leader needs to acknowledge that we can do *much* better with the economy, and show the way. Older workers remember a time when things were much better - and not just for "white male factory workers". And we are more efficient than ever. So, we shouldn't settle for an economy that leaves such poor pay and job security for most workers.
You can't blame employers for seeking to reduce cost - whether through moving jobs overseas, or importing workers via H1B's to replace existing domestic workers with cheaper imported workers. That (if allowed by our laws) is basic business strategy. But as a nation, we (voters - not donors), should have the right to decide what kind of society and economy we have - whether balanced more towards the needs of employers (excess of labor) or workers (labor more scarce).
Nitpicking only goes so far. We need leaders with bold solutions, and different, better policy. Some of those policies (FDR's New Deal, etc) have been eviscerated, and need to be reinstated. Democrats participated in this evisceration, and as a result, we have Trump for president. Leaders (and pundits) who don't call for change, should be assumed to have the philosophy that "the economy will stink forever" - which is not an acceptable choice.
You can't blame employers for seeking to reduce cost - whether through moving jobs overseas, or importing workers via H1B's to replace existing domestic workers with cheaper imported workers. That (if allowed by our laws) is basic business strategy. But as a nation, we (voters - not donors), should have the right to decide what kind of society and economy we have - whether balanced more towards the needs of employers (excess of labor) or workers (labor more scarce).
Nitpicking only goes so far. We need leaders with bold solutions, and different, better policy. Some of those policies (FDR's New Deal, etc) have been eviscerated, and need to be reinstated. Democrats participated in this evisceration, and as a result, we have Trump for president. Leaders (and pundits) who don't call for change, should be assumed to have the philosophy that "the economy will stink forever" - which is not an acceptable choice.
8
Donald J Trump, *Reality Show* President (Elect) by day, marionette for ex-KGB Russian thug by night (thanks to always-in-use Twitter account).
4
Dr. Krugman, one of the end results of Capitalism is a Donald Trump. While the market is, at it's essence, the only organic economic system, it is susceptible to scam artists.
Human nature throws a wrench into the equation; too many people are seduced by the lure of wealth and thus become their own worst enemy. Enter the flim flam man.
Economics is not a science; it depends on the whims of a broad spectrum of human behavior; it can never be predicted, there is always an unexpected factor.
In my view, an uneducated population in a democracy is deadly because education is the only factor for making rational decisions; most Americans don't understand economics, nor how their democracy functions and, most important, what their role in a democratic republic is. How can the ignorant make rational decisions?
Essentially, what we have is the problem of how do you herd cats? How do you convince them that most times, if it's for a rational reason, it's for their own good? In addition, who is the one person, or the congress, to determine what is the best policy for everyone?
There's the rub: How do you get an uneducated people to make rational decisions and learn to weed out the exploiters? Whoever solves that deserves the Nobel Prize. In the meantime, we have to endure a Donald Trump, the flowering of ignorance.
Human nature throws a wrench into the equation; too many people are seduced by the lure of wealth and thus become their own worst enemy. Enter the flim flam man.
Economics is not a science; it depends on the whims of a broad spectrum of human behavior; it can never be predicted, there is always an unexpected factor.
In my view, an uneducated population in a democracy is deadly because education is the only factor for making rational decisions; most Americans don't understand economics, nor how their democracy functions and, most important, what their role in a democratic republic is. How can the ignorant make rational decisions?
Essentially, what we have is the problem of how do you herd cats? How do you convince them that most times, if it's for a rational reason, it's for their own good? In addition, who is the one person, or the congress, to determine what is the best policy for everyone?
There's the rub: How do you get an uneducated people to make rational decisions and learn to weed out the exploiters? Whoever solves that deserves the Nobel Prize. In the meantime, we have to endure a Donald Trump, the flowering of ignorance.
6
Policy which resulted in real intervention which saved a huge number of jobs, a million or more - blue collar manufacturing jobs, Trump trumpeted jobs - was excoriated by the right. Anger over the program helped usher in our current Congress. Yes, it was the auto industry bailout. Real policy, real results.
But 700 jobs here or there, tossed to the press like roses at divas, *that's* what we focus on.
There are a lot of ideas we can pursue to improve the job market - from changing employee taxes or health costs to subsidizing industries in which manufacturing is in the interest of national defense such as vaccines and medications, communications, energy. Yelling at Nabisco over Oreos is probably not one of them.
But like the campaigns, Trump is interested in optics. And Congress is happy to have the smokescreen while they busily undermine the whole populist message.
By the time the masses figure it all out, the giant right wing media spinning machine will have found a ay to blame President Obama and east coast Liberals.
Really, we need to be careful what we ask for, because we might just get it.
But 700 jobs here or there, tossed to the press like roses at divas, *that's* what we focus on.
There are a lot of ideas we can pursue to improve the job market - from changing employee taxes or health costs to subsidizing industries in which manufacturing is in the interest of national defense such as vaccines and medications, communications, energy. Yelling at Nabisco over Oreos is probably not one of them.
But like the campaigns, Trump is interested in optics. And Congress is happy to have the smokescreen while they busily undermine the whole populist message.
By the time the masses figure it all out, the giant right wing media spinning machine will have found a ay to blame President Obama and east coast Liberals.
Really, we need to be careful what we ask for, because we might just get it.
2
Giving the devil his due, and for the record I would support impeachment even at this point, but both Bernie and Trump had a great point in that America was exporting its economy and the lives of millions, with the tacit approval of the political world.
Sure, impeach Trump and throw his miserable hide out of the White House, but also, keep in mind that this effort to do something for America workers is an effort really needed.
Hugh Massengill Eugene Oregon
Sure, impeach Trump and throw his miserable hide out of the White House, but also, keep in mind that this effort to do something for America workers is an effort really needed.
Hugh Massengill Eugene Oregon
1
Yes, it's as if "truthiness" has expanded its horizons - it's no longer just about fiction that sounds like fact, but losses that are described as profits, rally chants that are taken to be policy, enemies that are introduced as friends, and lies that are accepted as promises ... It's become a "topsy-turvy, looking-glass" world.
1
And now Trump is even telling Japanese companies where to set up shop--when we as a nation have a treaty obligation under NAFTA to create a free market in the region. Trump is not interested in passing new laws with incentives to manufacture in the US--he wants to imitate Putin, stomping around factories and playing the big guy, telling people what to do and making them afraid. Having a president trash particular companies is insane. As with other matters, let him try to do the hard work of creating a policy base don laws. This I doubt he will ever do.
1
This article is dead on. There is Major League news and Minor League news.
Serious media has to report the distinction now. It is safe to say Trump's tweets and bellowing are hugely Minor League news. Big League!
Serious media has to report the distinction now. It is safe to say Trump's tweets and bellowing are hugely Minor League news. Big League!
Thanks PK, for putting some numbers to the Trump publicity stunt.
4
This was a scam election and the only person to prevent this from actually happening is the President. THAT'S the legacy, saving civilization.
1
For a highly educated Princeton professor, Paul Krugman has missed the point. The Carrier jobs saved and the like gestures were only SYMBOLIC, never meant to "save" the entire economy. President elect Trump is just that, and not yet our president. His intervention at Carrier was an attempt to demonstrate his intentions and promises made during the elections. Krugman is just another example of sour grapes. Hillary lost, Trump won. Move on.
3
Government is about policy for the country. Trump and his accomplices are pitting themselves against Krugman who is a Nobel Prize winner. In the confrontation of knowledge vs ignorance, a hustler against a world-recognized scientist, who will prevail among our legislators?
1
Your artificial new reporters had a heyday with the election and every other subject. Your socialistic union jobs (choking taxpayers and enabling states to go bankrupt as your report) are the stories people rarely hear. Living in the suburbs of any of these major East Coast cities, owning and maintaining a home, saving for retirement, putting kids through college yet all the while people made to feel like they should apologize for their ambition and accomplishment (under the Obama administration). Trump is doing something which is a refreshing change from Obama's nothing during the past eight years.
How could the headlines be "fake" if Carrier indeed talked with President Trump and decided to keep 800 jobs here? The headline is not fake at all. Are you saying that the headline should say "Trump creates 800 new jobs but that doesn't matter in the grand scheme of things?" If the press is going to start being all inclusive in their headlines then at least be fair about it. How about "Planned Parenthood sees donations rise since the election because they are advertising that Trump will take away services which they have never provided like cancer screenings?" I like it. It is truthful Beyond a doubt as pictures are in other media. It states fact that PP donations are up and that women are afraid that the Big Bad President is going to take away their God given rights. And to make it completely fair it shows how this liberal organization will stoop to blatant lies to scare the people to rise up against the government. The only bad thing is the length of the headline but I'm sure the Times can get a smaller font.
Uh ... excuse me G.H. Here is a link to a story from CNN that details how Paul Ryan is going to defund Planned Parenthood http://www.cnn.com/2017/01/05/politics/paul-ryan-planned-parenthood-obam.... So ... yes, in taking away money from this "liberal" organization, it has the potential to decrease the services that PP can provide. Here is another link to the services that PP provides and indeed, they do provide cancer screenings https://www.plannedparenthood.org/learn/womens-health/cervical-cancer. Let's get the facts straight, why don't we?
What do you think a pap smear is? A breast exam?
Right. Cancer screenings. Provided every day by Planned Parenthood.
Right. Cancer screenings. Provided every day by Planned Parenthood.
1
OK, so what you are really saying is symbolic gestures are meaningless.
If that's true, let's have our Senators and Congressmen stop wasting their time with meaningless, trivial constituent services.
If that's true, let's have our Senators and Congressmen stop wasting their time with meaningless, trivial constituent services.
2
On Thursday, at a rough estimate, 75,000 Americans were laid off or fired by their employers. Some of those workers will find good new jobs, but many will end up earning less, and some will remain unemployed for months or years.
If that sounds terrible to you, and you’re asking what economic catastrophe just happened, the answer is, none. In fact, I’m just assuming that Thursday was a normal day in the job market.
The U.S. economy is, after all, huge, employing 145 million people. It’s also ever-changing: Industries and companies rise and fall, and there are always losers as well as winners. The result is constant “churn,” with many jobs disappearing even as still more new jobs are created...
--------------------------------
Why does Mr. Krugman accept this as the "new normal" in America?
Voters do not like the constant churn, the storm und drang of replacing solid middle America jobs with part time service jobs that only artificially will pay a living wage?
The voters want a CHANGE in our job markets, and our domestic economy?
Why isn't Mr. Krugman yet on board? It's not just Trump voters who understand the big picture economic changes needed here at home; Bernie voters, the young educated underemployed's, understand this too.
Stop the job churn.
Employ Americans in healthy American industries, at working wages.
We don't need to accept the extreme inequalities as the new normal -- exporting our seed capital -- no matter what Krugman preaches as today's reality.
If that sounds terrible to you, and you’re asking what economic catastrophe just happened, the answer is, none. In fact, I’m just assuming that Thursday was a normal day in the job market.
The U.S. economy is, after all, huge, employing 145 million people. It’s also ever-changing: Industries and companies rise and fall, and there are always losers as well as winners. The result is constant “churn,” with many jobs disappearing even as still more new jobs are created...
--------------------------------
Why does Mr. Krugman accept this as the "new normal" in America?
Voters do not like the constant churn, the storm und drang of replacing solid middle America jobs with part time service jobs that only artificially will pay a living wage?
The voters want a CHANGE in our job markets, and our domestic economy?
Why isn't Mr. Krugman yet on board? It's not just Trump voters who understand the big picture economic changes needed here at home; Bernie voters, the young educated underemployed's, understand this too.
Stop the job churn.
Employ Americans in healthy American industries, at working wages.
We don't need to accept the extreme inequalities as the new normal -- exporting our seed capital -- no matter what Krugman preaches as today's reality.
Yes, journalists. Keep it honest, clear, and direct. Make your points in the first paragraph, then back it up in the rest of the column, and sum it up at the end. Don't be stenographers. Write YOUR story, not the one your sources want you to write. And most importantly, be prepared. Know your facts -- memorize all the politifact-type columns that debunk the same old Republican talking points -- they do repeat the same ones. Then, either confront your interviewees with this, or at least put it in your news piece -- challenge yourselves and your subjects.
Examples:
When the Republicans talk about bad regulations, find out which they mean and know if what they say is accurate. Same goes for de-funding Planned Parenthood at the expense of women's health, and funding charter schools at the expense of public schools. When they talk about privatizing social security ask what they would do about someone who invests their private retirement funds poorly and has nothing to live on when they retire and/or cannot work -- will they let them die in the streets, really? If they support settlements in Israel, ask what they would think about a formal one-state Israel that includes the West Bank and has a large Arab/Muslim population that does not have equal rights and opportunities, but are "citizens" of that one state -- discriminated against in education, jobs, legal rights, housing, religious worship? Follow up, don't let them ride over you. Be journalists, not stenographers!
Examples:
When the Republicans talk about bad regulations, find out which they mean and know if what they say is accurate. Same goes for de-funding Planned Parenthood at the expense of women's health, and funding charter schools at the expense of public schools. When they talk about privatizing social security ask what they would do about someone who invests their private retirement funds poorly and has nothing to live on when they retire and/or cannot work -- will they let them die in the streets, really? If they support settlements in Israel, ask what they would think about a formal one-state Israel that includes the West Bank and has a large Arab/Muslim population that does not have equal rights and opportunities, but are "citizens" of that one state -- discriminated against in education, jobs, legal rights, housing, religious worship? Follow up, don't let them ride over you. Be journalists, not stenographers!
23
"So why are such stories occupying so much of the media’s attention?"
Quite simply, Professor Krugman, because 'Fake Policy' began in earnest in 1980 with 'Trickle Down Economics' that promised wealth to the very class that was decimated by it. Now we have more of the same, so why the feigned outrage?
Quite simply, Professor Krugman, because 'Fake Policy' began in earnest in 1980 with 'Trickle Down Economics' that promised wealth to the very class that was decimated by it. Now we have more of the same, so why the feigned outrage?
5
"The Cambridge Police acted stupidly".
For 8 years we have had a President that weighs in on social injustice. Did that make a difference? If anything it made matters worst.
It's the optics Krugman. These individuals jobs have little to do with the big picture, but they make people feel better about their own situation.
Trump is a cheerleader, a role that every CEO understands it's importance to achieving overall goals. Krugman doesn't recognize that role, he has never signed the front of a paycheck.
Is it effective, absolutely. In turn no CEO wants to get called out in front of their customers, especially on social media. It cost millions to fix.
For 8 years we have had a President that weighs in on social injustice. Did that make a difference? If anything it made matters worst.
It's the optics Krugman. These individuals jobs have little to do with the big picture, but they make people feel better about their own situation.
Trump is a cheerleader, a role that every CEO understands it's importance to achieving overall goals. Krugman doesn't recognize that role, he has never signed the front of a paycheck.
Is it effective, absolutely. In turn no CEO wants to get called out in front of their customers, especially on social media. It cost millions to fix.
1
I really can not fault Trump for saving 700 jobs or for using all he can as PR for his administration. After all, I think if the DEM's and President Obama had spoke out more during the last 8 years things would be a lot different. That said, I DO FAULT Trump for not having a policy on anything!!
3
No policy on anything?
Wait until he is actually the president Thomas...
He cannot assume the powers just yet, even though the stock market speculators are responding, and the holiday shoppers are spending already...
Wait until he is actually the president Thomas...
He cannot assume the powers just yet, even though the stock market speculators are responding, and the holiday shoppers are spending already...
More Trump Derangement Syndrome.
Hillary lost, despite Krugman's constant shilling. Get over it already!
(The Times seems to have lost its way. It has morphed into the communications arm of the Demoncratic Party.)
Hillary lost, despite Krugman's constant shilling. Get over it already!
(The Times seems to have lost its way. It has morphed into the communications arm of the Demoncratic Party.)
1
I wonder how long it will be before Debbie Wasserman-Shultz takes over Circulation, Donna Brazil as Advertising Exec. and Kieth Ellison as Editor of the New York Times?
1
The "news" does not report "news". It is entertainment that serves a filler between the pharmaceutical ads. Wake me when this is over.
1
And to add to the criticism, Mr. Krugman, the NY Times and the rest of the media have not made any mention of the fact that unemployment in the manufacturing sector is running at 3.9%, according to the November 2016 numbers from the BLS. This rate is below the 4.4% total in the same month. Adding to that is the subsector of durable good manufacturing, like what Carrier makes, is at 3.4%.
I have yet to see these numbers discussed in any articles or op-eds. Why not? Why does a section of the economy that is out performing get such out sized attention?
The issues that people really have are job stability and wage. The churn used to bring increased wages but for the past decade or more the manufacturing wage has been flat or down. This is correlated with the collapse of union work and the rise of anti-union legislation in states like Kentucky.
Yes, let's focus on the real issues as we move into 2017, President 45 and Congress 115 and Media 2.0.
I have yet to see these numbers discussed in any articles or op-eds. Why not? Why does a section of the economy that is out performing get such out sized attention?
The issues that people really have are job stability and wage. The churn used to bring increased wages but for the past decade or more the manufacturing wage has been flat or down. This is correlated with the collapse of union work and the rise of anti-union legislation in states like Kentucky.
Yes, let's focus on the real issues as we move into 2017, President 45 and Congress 115 and Media 2.0.
262
But,but,but.... the BLS lies. The 'real' unemployment is like 50% , right? I know I heard that somewhere....
Meanwhile, 1000 people at Carrier lost their jobs. Remember the original number was 2000 jobs going and 800 got saved.
Meanwhile, 1000 people at Carrier lost their jobs. Remember the original number was 2000 jobs going and 800 got saved.
We can expect at least four years of these antics from our next president. Let's update a saying from an earlier scoundrel, John Mitchell, Nixon's Attorney General. He said, "Watch what we do, not what we say."
Watch what they do, not what he tweets.
Watch what they do, not what he tweets.
2
Numbers and statistics, even when 100% accurate, must be looked at in a larger context. Resulting conclusions can be easily skewed. Dr. K. gives some good examples. Here's a general one....
After marijuana was legalized, it was found that the number of arrests in City X for driving while impaired by marijuana doubled! Oh my God, that's terrible!
It went from 1 to 2.
Oh.
After marijuana was legalized, it was found that the number of arrests in City X for driving while impaired by marijuana doubled! Oh my God, that's terrible!
It went from 1 to 2.
Oh.
3
I don't think you can blame the media for simplistic thinking on behalf of readers. Print journalism has done a good job of objectively portraying the short comings in Trump;s proclamations. If a reader cant dwell into an article with critical assessment of it's content it's hardly grounds for denouncing the messenger.Unfortunately as basic dissonance theory proclaims most people procure information that conforms to their existing belief structures.
84
@gm (syracuse area): You said "most people procure information that conforms to their existing belief structures". While I agree with this, there's the other side that young impressionable minds don't yet have an existing belief structure.
Young readers, young adults, look at the world with idealistic open eyes and absorb what the mainstream media presents. So the way to shape the next generation of intelligent citizens is to present facts simply. If a writer expects the average person (with an IQ of 100, and half with lower) to delve deep into an article to read the "counter point"... that's expecting too much. The headline must state the counter-point. If this makes the headline too long, include ONLY the counter-point. And put the inaccuracies of Trumps words deep into the article. Reverse the message -- say what you want to in the headline. Do so for our next generations. Shift journalistic practice to present the main message first -- in the headline.
Young readers, young adults, look at the world with idealistic open eyes and absorb what the mainstream media presents. So the way to shape the next generation of intelligent citizens is to present facts simply. If a writer expects the average person (with an IQ of 100, and half with lower) to delve deep into an article to read the "counter point"... that's expecting too much. The headline must state the counter-point. If this makes the headline too long, include ONLY the counter-point. And put the inaccuracies of Trumps words deep into the article. Reverse the message -- say what you want to in the headline. Do so for our next generations. Shift journalistic practice to present the main message first -- in the headline.
2
gm, you are correct. A remedy: re-institute the Fairness doctrine on TV and apply it to all forms of news. It may curtail the reports of "bigfoot sightings" and Trump lies, but we could learn about them in books for stupid people or cartoons, or Jerry Springer, or Howard Stern.
I would agree with you, except that one of the basic tenets I learned in Journalism 101 was the understanding that most readers will only read the first few paragraphs, so anything not in those first few paragraphs is "buried." I will, therefore, agree with Krugman because, as messengers, journalists should know better.
NYT: put this piece on the front page. Everyday, expose this charlatan, the ersatz president. Be bold, be called controversial. The truth, it's what we need. Help save this country.
14
This should be read out loud in every news out. Then get the people to understand what's really going on
1
Paul Krugman is hardly one who can comment on the "betrayal of journalism". And indeed fake news persists especially in print publications that continue to report claims of Russian hacking with no evidence. The Age of Fake Policy originates with authors that betray journalism trying to erase Trump before even becoming President Trump. Let it go already. Your desperation is now starting to look childish. Who now is having trouble accepting results of the election? Oh wait, that was only asked of Trump. The other side was misled by MSM's fake news. When will you ever become truly objective?
2
When will you become objective?
The real problem is that millions of America were already leading "fake" lives before Trump came along, and we must include among them journalists. So the unmasking of Trump will really amount to an unmasking of America. When that happens, it will either be cathartic or butt-ugly.
1
Reagan taking on the air traffic controllers was similarly a largely symbolic gesture, but it had a huge impact.
If through his berating of individual firms Trump can manage can bend the prevailing philosophy in the private sector of responsibility only to shareholders and not to workers and the larger community, he will have accomplished something important. Because we really need to get back there.
Similarly, if he can shame defense contractors who are bilking the taxpayer, good on him.
Believe me, I hate to say this, I don't like the man for many reasons, but in fairness it must be said.
If through his berating of individual firms Trump can manage can bend the prevailing philosophy in the private sector of responsibility only to shareholders and not to workers and the larger community, he will have accomplished something important. Because we really need to get back there.
Similarly, if he can shame defense contractors who are bilking the taxpayer, good on him.
Believe me, I hate to say this, I don't like the man for many reasons, but in fairness it must be said.
133
In general, I agree with your statements. However your "If through his berating of individual firms Trump can manage can bend the prevailing philosophy in the private sector of responsibility only to shareholders and not to workers and the larger community" statement can only be changed with an act of congress, as corporate governance laws require corporations to maximize return on shareholder's investment.
2
It seems to me that liberals are so filled with blind hatred for Trump that they even resent the people who will be keeping their jobs thanks to his intervention.
A few hundred jobs may not seem like a lot in macroeconomics. However, they mean a lot when they are concentrated in a community that has only one factory. Dr. Krugman would understand what I mean were he to travel through the Midwest or New England and see what happens to a town when the main employer has left. Not a pretty sight.
A few hundred jobs may not seem like a lot in macroeconomics. However, they mean a lot when they are concentrated in a community that has only one factory. Dr. Krugman would understand what I mean were he to travel through the Midwest or New England and see what happens to a town when the main employer has left. Not a pretty sight.
1
Remember the complicity of Congress in "defense contractors bilking the taxpayer."
DoD says they don't want/need a weapons system but suddenly the representatives of a dozen or few districts/states who will lose jobs insist that the unwanted/unneeded system continue.
"The Swamp" is deepest and murkiest on Capitol Hill - and there is nothing thedonald can do about that - indeed they are going to play him starting with ACA.
DoD says they don't want/need a weapons system but suddenly the representatives of a dozen or few districts/states who will lose jobs insist that the unwanted/unneeded system continue.
"The Swamp" is deepest and murkiest on Capitol Hill - and there is nothing thedonald can do about that - indeed they are going to play him starting with ACA.
It takes the print and cable media two days to figure out they were conned by Donald Trump into giving him undue credit or coverage.
Is it laziness, compliance for access, or fear?
We will most assuredly be living in fake times under a Trump Administration.
At stake is our democracy.
Is it laziness, compliance for access, or fear?
We will most assuredly be living in fake times under a Trump Administration.
At stake is our democracy.
4
All of us, from time to time, forget to consider scale or proportion in assessing the significance or triviality of news.
The less practice we have had – either by formal education or by daily reading habits – the more we are susceptible to ignoring scale.
Donald Trump and his handlers are counting on the inability of his white working-class supporters to exercise perspective in assessing the business headlines created by Trump about saving American jobs.
Team Trump relies upon an ability to make a public relations stunt look like an important achievement.
This play-acting is merely another facet of the false equivalency tactic used by Donald Trump and the Republicans during the presidential election.
During the campaign, Trump’s record of fraud, racial discrimination, repeated business failures, ignorance about government, and boorish treatment of women were dismissed by the G.O.P. as being far less important than Hillary Clinton’s private email server.
Both the highly publicized, phony ‘saving’ of a handful of jobs and the false equivalency campaign arguments are variations of the old shell game. Divert the suckers’ attention.
Our national news broadcasters and the headline writers of our major newspapers help Mr. Trump and Republican politicians work the scam on a daily basis.
The less practice we have had – either by formal education or by daily reading habits – the more we are susceptible to ignoring scale.
Donald Trump and his handlers are counting on the inability of his white working-class supporters to exercise perspective in assessing the business headlines created by Trump about saving American jobs.
Team Trump relies upon an ability to make a public relations stunt look like an important achievement.
This play-acting is merely another facet of the false equivalency tactic used by Donald Trump and the Republicans during the presidential election.
During the campaign, Trump’s record of fraud, racial discrimination, repeated business failures, ignorance about government, and boorish treatment of women were dismissed by the G.O.P. as being far less important than Hillary Clinton’s private email server.
Both the highly publicized, phony ‘saving’ of a handful of jobs and the false equivalency campaign arguments are variations of the old shell game. Divert the suckers’ attention.
Our national news broadcasters and the headline writers of our major newspapers help Mr. Trump and Republican politicians work the scam on a daily basis.
656
With each passing day, Mr. Krugman grows more strident, more desperate and hysterical. And it's easy to see why. He is scared to death, with Republicans in a position to enact real reforms, that they will strike a blow to his central economic argument--his governo-centric model which asserts government can better direct the economy, spend your money, and make better decisions than citizens can.
For the first time in a generation, Conservatives have the wherewithal to change the balance of power in Washington--tilting the advantage away from government control of everything (business, education, health care, retirement) and toward more freedom inspired, market-driven solutions.
When I read Krugman, I am often reminded of the taxi industry. On the one hand, there are the government sanctioned taxicabs, who have to purchase licenses from local governments, follow their dictates and fare schedules--and on the other, there's the new "sharing economy" of Uber and Lyft. The new models have improved service, improved the customer experience, improved employee/worker experience (flexible hours, better pay) and lowered the cost of transportation.
In this one juxtaposition, you have the essential comparison of free market model, against the more socialistic, heavily regulated, government controlled model Krugman favors. Which is ascendant? We already know. But this left-wing kook, cannot understand that freedom and market-driven solutions work best in every instance.
For the first time in a generation, Conservatives have the wherewithal to change the balance of power in Washington--tilting the advantage away from government control of everything (business, education, health care, retirement) and toward more freedom inspired, market-driven solutions.
When I read Krugman, I am often reminded of the taxi industry. On the one hand, there are the government sanctioned taxicabs, who have to purchase licenses from local governments, follow their dictates and fare schedules--and on the other, there's the new "sharing economy" of Uber and Lyft. The new models have improved service, improved the customer experience, improved employee/worker experience (flexible hours, better pay) and lowered the cost of transportation.
In this one juxtaposition, you have the essential comparison of free market model, against the more socialistic, heavily regulated, government controlled model Krugman favors. Which is ascendant? We already know. But this left-wing kook, cannot understand that freedom and market-driven solutions work best in every instance.
5
"With each passing day, Mr. Krugman grows more strident, more desperate and hysterical."
Up is down for every Trump apologist. On the contrary, Dr. Krugman is 1000% correct.
Up is down for every Trump apologist. On the contrary, Dr. Krugman is 1000% correct.
25
Are you under the impression that Donald Trump is a conservative? Wow. You really aren't paying attention.
9
Wait a minute...how are the tax incentives given to Carrier an example of the free market? How is that market-driven? Unfortunately for taxi drivers they can't pick up and leave their market like a large company can and go to where the labor is cheaper. However, isn't it also an example of the free market to fight for your livelihood with every tool at your disposal as the taxi industry is doing?
Plus here is one that is closer to home for someone like you. Just who foots the bill for the state of Vermont to make the rest of the USA aware of all those maple products produced in the Northeast Kingdom of that state where Orleans is located? How is that an example of freedom and being market-driven? Tell your neighbor down the road with a temporary job in the ski industry that you think they should survive without all those tax dollars being spent on the ski industry and tourism marketing. See how good that will be for your community.
The only people being subjected to the free-market in this country are the powerless and the poor. Those with the money and power are using every lever they can, including government, to get an edge.
Plus here is one that is closer to home for someone like you. Just who foots the bill for the state of Vermont to make the rest of the USA aware of all those maple products produced in the Northeast Kingdom of that state where Orleans is located? How is that an example of freedom and being market-driven? Tell your neighbor down the road with a temporary job in the ski industry that you think they should survive without all those tax dollars being spent on the ski industry and tourism marketing. See how good that will be for your community.
The only people being subjected to the free-market in this country are the powerless and the poor. Those with the money and power are using every lever they can, including government, to get an edge.
6
This is one of those moments in time when a person writes an editorial that describes so clearly what is going on and nothing will stop it from going on further. Like a snap shot taken of an elephant stumbling and starting to fall off a cliff. The next picture taken will be far more catastrophic. It turns out that the power of the press to make or break freedom, justice, and progress in any nation has been completely overlooked. Letting heartless raptors take over the press for nothing other than profit and greed was our undoing.
2
Paul, you're right overall. The trivial supersedes the actual in our politics, and to the degree that it informs (or misinforms policy) it is shameful. In this case though, even though trump's (I don't capitalize his name; petty much?) pronouncements are inaccurate, they do send a powerful message that there is a new sheriff in town with a new focus. That is welcome news to many, and saving hundreds of jobs is also to scale, something the average person can understand, which the overall size of the economy is not. Dems have the truth on their side, but they don't convey it nearly well enough. To wit: When Obamacare can be framed as a "disaster" after it insures millions and saves lives, the problem goes beyond a few tweets.
575
The destruction of Obamacare is, I think, the next step in the Republican intention to discredit Barack Obama, the first man of color to become President of the United States. Certainly, the Republicans' actions will do nothing to improve health care for American citizens.
L&B&L
L&B&L
1
Joel Cotignac is right to call Paul Krugman out for his use of the term "rubes." While he is attempting to mimic the cynical view of Trump, Breitbart & Co, Krugman is the one who actually used it, and it will come back to haunt his credibility on really important issues, just as Hillary's use of the term "deplorable" did.
The truth of the matter is that we have descended into a morass in which it is impossible to differentiate between truth and fiction. We are swamped daily with digitized imagery and digitized fakery from all over the world. Perhaps one of the reasons for all of the brutality that is out there is that people are desperate to have something authentic in their lives even if it is purposefully and outrageously destructive.
The murder of 40 people in an Istanbul nightclub in the midst of New Year's Eve fireworks all around the world is a case in point. Wouldn't it have been better if we had just marveled at the incredible beauty of the night sky and
thanked our stars that we have the privilege?
But, I ignore the fact that smog and city lights have long since made the night
sky invisible to the majority of the population. Back to point one. We are losing the ability to distinguish between truth and fiction. McDonnell, Trump, Breitbart & Company are the beneficiaries of that.
The truth of the matter is that we have descended into a morass in which it is impossible to differentiate between truth and fiction. We are swamped daily with digitized imagery and digitized fakery from all over the world. Perhaps one of the reasons for all of the brutality that is out there is that people are desperate to have something authentic in their lives even if it is purposefully and outrageously destructive.
The murder of 40 people in an Istanbul nightclub in the midst of New Year's Eve fireworks all around the world is a case in point. Wouldn't it have been better if we had just marveled at the incredible beauty of the night sky and
thanked our stars that we have the privilege?
But, I ignore the fact that smog and city lights have long since made the night
sky invisible to the majority of the population. Back to point one. We are losing the ability to distinguish between truth and fiction. McDonnell, Trump, Breitbart & Company are the beneficiaries of that.
2
Then there is the fact that the US dollar, rather than some flexible basket of currencies unit, is the basis of international trade transactions. That keeps the US in a chronic negative international trade state, with those surplus dollars earned by others soaked up as trading units to be used in trade between other nations.
In short, it causes US goods (and by implication US wages) to become and stay too highly priced to compete fairly in world markets. We exchange an artificial surplus of imported goods and services for jobs lost here.
Ideally the dollar should drop in exchange value against some standard monetary unit used in foreign trade pricing whenever our imports exceed our exports. It does not, and so our workers lose jobs to foreign workers.
In short, it causes US goods (and by implication US wages) to become and stay too highly priced to compete fairly in world markets. We exchange an artificial surplus of imported goods and services for jobs lost here.
Ideally the dollar should drop in exchange value against some standard monetary unit used in foreign trade pricing whenever our imports exceed our exports. It does not, and so our workers lose jobs to foreign workers.
3
Repealing the Affordable Care Act, which would end hundreds of billions of dollars being ripped away from taxpayers and handed over to insurance companies, could make taxpayers' wallets a little fatter. Except Trump is planning to replace PPACA with his own version according to Trump.
Sadly, Prof Krugman only wants His Preferred Party's version. After all, only Liberals know the right way to spend Someone Else's Money.
Sadly, Prof Krugman only wants His Preferred Party's version. After all, only Liberals know the right way to spend Someone Else's Money.
4
Yeah. Probably what Trump has in mind is to bring the US into line with the rest of the industrialized world and have government funded health care for all. I'm expecting the tweet any minute now.
12
It’s not fake when a candidate offers it; or, when a president-elect does. It’s policy when a president does. The opprobrium shoveled onto Trump still two weeks from his inaugural is astonishing. How many presidents-elect have jumped into a transition immediately after having been elected, without so much as a week’s vacation? Trump didn’t let up until ALL his major cabinet picks had been made, or until the transition architecture was humming.
I know Paul thinks 1500-2000 middle-class jobs are weak beer, but … that attitude really is why Mrs. Clinton lost, isn’t it?
Trump’s proposed policies include renegotiation of our trade agreements to better serve the interests of America’s workers. That’s not weak beer: over 4-8 years, it could affect MILLIONS of middle-class American jobs. They also include making it more difficult for large multinationals to engage in “inversions”, taking the governance of a U.S. company elsewhere for tax reasons – as well as jobs. They also include unleashing that economy by reducing the disincentives that hamper growth, including excessive taxes and VERY excessive regulation. All actions targeted at DRAMATIC effects on that large economy.
But he’s not president yet; so, while he’s working on that why NOT save some jobs? How many of those PEOPLE whose jobs were saved does Paul know personally? How many did Mrs. Clinton know?
But if your goal is to demonize someone, seeking to trivialize his every real accomplishment is Job One (hear that, Ford?)
I know Paul thinks 1500-2000 middle-class jobs are weak beer, but … that attitude really is why Mrs. Clinton lost, isn’t it?
Trump’s proposed policies include renegotiation of our trade agreements to better serve the interests of America’s workers. That’s not weak beer: over 4-8 years, it could affect MILLIONS of middle-class American jobs. They also include making it more difficult for large multinationals to engage in “inversions”, taking the governance of a U.S. company elsewhere for tax reasons – as well as jobs. They also include unleashing that economy by reducing the disincentives that hamper growth, including excessive taxes and VERY excessive regulation. All actions targeted at DRAMATIC effects on that large economy.
But he’s not president yet; so, while he’s working on that why NOT save some jobs? How many of those PEOPLE whose jobs were saved does Paul know personally? How many did Mrs. Clinton know?
But if your goal is to demonize someone, seeking to trivialize his every real accomplishment is Job One (hear that, Ford?)
11
Mrs. Clinton lost the Electoral College but won almost 3 million more votes than Trump. Only in a strange nation would this be considered losing and only in such a nation would a complete reexamination of policies and the candidate "losing" be required. Yeah, I know people who supported Trump are tired of hearing, it but it is not going to stop until we find a better way. This is no longer acceptable, not merely because of Trump moving into the White House, but because it is a matter of basic fairness and fundamental American values called...democracy.
We have to set thresholds whereby the vote of the whole nation overrides that of individual states. Otherwise, we will eagerly address the problems in small towns and rural America and ignore those in urban areas. It is not about opposing the results this year, but finding a better way forward.
Trump can trumpet any real or imagined job retention he wants. It will not solve the problem, which is the disappearance of employment through automation, offshoring and repetitive downsizing and, don't forget, minimal or no wage increases for those who have jobs. This is an ideal "employer's market", one where workers are continually on edge about losing their jobs, not getting raises and then, if they make it that far, shuffled out the door by their mid-50s.
By the way, for those who celebrate Trump's interventions, I thought a core conservative principle was "let the market decide". What happened to that?
We have to set thresholds whereby the vote of the whole nation overrides that of individual states. Otherwise, we will eagerly address the problems in small towns and rural America and ignore those in urban areas. It is not about opposing the results this year, but finding a better way forward.
Trump can trumpet any real or imagined job retention he wants. It will not solve the problem, which is the disappearance of employment through automation, offshoring and repetitive downsizing and, don't forget, minimal or no wage increases for those who have jobs. This is an ideal "employer's market", one where workers are continually on edge about losing their jobs, not getting raises and then, if they make it that far, shuffled out the door by their mid-50s.
By the way, for those who celebrate Trump's interventions, I thought a core conservative principle was "let the market decide". What happened to that?
133
Uh, trump is weeks, as in a month behind in prep for entering office. None of his pics have been fully vetted or passed security checks either. As for fake news, come to Indiana, fake news central to find out that all the jobs being created, despite what they say on Indiana brand NPR are temp to hire for $10/hr. with no intention of hiring anybody, let alone at a living wage. Those pesky facts will keep nipping at your heels, darn it!
64
I think the major point to be made is that Mr. Trump exaggerates or lies about almost everything he talks about including the number of jobs he "saves." I fully understand his motivation: he wants people to think he doing something about job loss, particularly the jobs that are leaving the U.S. for other countries. He is a master at creating his own headlines, even though they usually include misleading, false information. It remains to be seen just how effective he is at renegotiating our trade agreements. He may actually get some traction in doing so since several politicians, including Bernie Sanders, support renegotiation or elimination of such policies. I will guarantee you one thing: Trump will try to take all the credit for whatever is accomplished in saving old jobs and creating new ones. Be prepared for a lot of fake news. I don't think Mr. Trump is capable of telling the truth. Perhaps the saddest part is that so many people really don't care.
446
There are two small ways that the NYTimes is complicit in misrepresenting the jobs situation as more positive than it really is. When there is the monthly ritual of reporting the unemployment numbers, the NYTimes always reports U3, which is an undercount by design. At the same time the BLS releases the U6 number (in the same A-15 table from the BLS) that is much more realistic, as it includes discouraged workers and long-term unemployed. U6 typically is 2X the U3 number. The NYTimes almost never reports U6. This happens over the years and across all reporters, so it must be firm editorial policy.
Part of this monthly ritual is release of number of jobs created. The NYTimes stenographically reports this without putting it in context -- the context is that it takes about 120,000 new jobs per month to keep up with the growth in our population.
Part of this monthly ritual is release of number of jobs created. The NYTimes stenographically reports this without putting it in context -- the context is that it takes about 120,000 new jobs per month to keep up with the growth in our population.
8
I second the motion! There is still no hard hitting analysis of the true numbers of jobs created or of the quality of those jobs. Where I live, it's all temp to hire with large classes to learn proprietary computer systems (and how the company manipulates to cheat their customers) and perfunctory HIPPA training (and how to get around that for corporate interest) of which half make it to the actual floor--because many can't stomach what they find out what the job makes them do or are weeded out for being late, like a minute late twice. Then once on the floor are fired for anything and every thing so that maybe one in 10 make it to be even considered for hire--in other words only the most obsequious, snake in the grass with few scruples remain. Meanwhile, the company gets to report the other 9 as jobs created. My area is glutted with workers who only have "training" on their resumes but are called job hoppers and won't be hired merely for keeping on trying to get a job.
THAT is the reality of job creation today and why people drop out. NOBODY is talking about what we all know is happening.
BTW Anthem that allowed millions of medical info together with sets SS#'s, birth dates, name and address is the LARGEST offender in Indianapolis and all the temp agencies openly let on they know it.
THAT is the reality of job creation today and why people drop out. NOBODY is talking about what we all know is happening.
BTW Anthem that allowed millions of medical info together with sets SS#'s, birth dates, name and address is the LARGEST offender in Indianapolis and all the temp agencies openly let on they know it.
4
Don't worry, once Trump takes office the NYT will report U6 rates all the time.
1
Just curious Rich in KC, do you have any facts to back up your claim or am I missing your sarcasm?
perception is reality ?
1
It is just awesome to see the lengths the US will go to deny that Trump is the product of a completely broken system.
29
Mr. Krugman is a great economist and columnist. He does not understand, however, that symbolic politics is often the essence of politics. People relate to the real lives of workers at Carrier and Ford, and Trump knows it. Mr. Krugman relates well to people in academia and people like me. He shows no connection to those who are perceived to have kept their jobs. Perhaps we love humanity, but don't much care about people?
Obama and Clinton could and should have engaged in these same measures in the Midwest. She may well have won had she shown and real, direct empathy for ordinary, working people.
Obama and Clinton could and should have engaged in these same measures in the Midwest. She may well have won had she shown and real, direct empathy for ordinary, working people.
5
Clinton did win. But in effect, the GOP aided by big money poured millions into state races, gerrymandered districts to gain seats, and ended up controlling 70% of the electoral votes. Now we find their corruption extending further: "More than 50 Electoral College members who voted for Donald Trump were illegally seated...ineligible to serve as presidential electors because they did not live in the congressional districts they represented or held elective office in states legally barring dual officeholders." https://www.salon.com/2017/01/05/at-least-50-donald-trump-electors-were-...
6
I'm not sure how much more empathy Clinton could have expressed to these real live workers. What Trump expressed wasn't empathy, but white nationalism. And white nationalism is what these workers voted for. The joke is on them because Trump "saving" 600 jobs here and 700 jobs there (that are going to be offset by automation) will get them no where. But it makes for great photo ops, and the rubes will be impressed. Too bad they'll be on the unemployment line. Having a manufacturing job where you don't have to continually train, educate yourself, and upgrade your skills is a thing of the past. These voters want the old style manufacturing jobs handed to them on a platter, and they don't want to have to do anything special to get them. This is the very definition of entitlement, an irony that will be lost on them because they don't acknowledge their own sense of entitlement, only the perceived entitlement of minorities.
10
While I agree that the press and dnc lost by failing to show real, direct empathy for ordinary people, it is still important to also point out the dangers of "symbolic" news. There's symbolic and then there's symbolic. ACA also has great symbolic value with the claim: Health is your right (not a privilege). It also helped 20,000,000 people. The Carrier stunt claimed only 1000 jobs that turned out to be only around 700, a 30% overstatement about something that was never going to happen anyway and who are still slated to be fired through other Carrier activity.
I don't know about you but even with the problems of ACA, I'm going to go with the 20,000,000 real people helped rather than with the 700 people who are going to still lose their jobs.
The point is Good symbols rather than puffed up fake ones.
I don't know about you but even with the problems of ACA, I'm going to go with the 20,000,000 real people helped rather than with the 700 people who are going to still lose their jobs.
The point is Good symbols rather than puffed up fake ones.
4
Professor, let's further ask why fake and insubstantial news so easily distracts us from the evolving disaster that is the USA. We are a nation of uncritical thinkers with short attention spans. While the venality and hypocrisy of the Republicans in Congress may be apparent to you, the stories that resonated with Trump voters for the last few years were about how Liberal elites were stealing the country from "real Americans".
In short, reality-based governance by the Dems has proven to be political suicide in the US, and continuously promoting this in public is fruitless. It's time for you and us to seek effective political messages that we can weaponize once reality catches up with Republican nonsense. Americans do, after all, understand the "Gotcha" moment.
In short, reality-based governance by the Dems has proven to be political suicide in the US, and continuously promoting this in public is fruitless. It's time for you and us to seek effective political messages that we can weaponize once reality catches up with Republican nonsense. Americans do, after all, understand the "Gotcha" moment.
14
To reach these people, you have to reach them. Let's be honest, most of them are working their brains and bodies out on mind and body breaking jobs that constantly reveal to them how business is booming but they're getting stiffed and they know it because they're the actual people doing the company's stiffing of it's customers--so when they get home it's all they can do it get ready for the next day of body and mind breaking work. Paying the bills, taking care of the kids, keeping the car repaired are all taking a hit.
Fox news and other faux info take advantage of very limited resources of their audience members. Those presenting substantive info need to find ways to infiltrate and undermine Fox type news by making the real facts easier to grasp by the people I've just described. I'm one of them but I get up an hour early just to read the NYT which right now is 4:00 am to get to my job that starts at 6:00am but they demand you get there by 5:30am to get your full shift pay.
And you can bet your bottom dollar everybody at my job thinks I'm a nut case because of it. I do happen to be one of the few there who even understand that news is fake let alone how and why. And they resent the hell out of me for being a smarty pants that I have to basically not talk to anybody to keep resentment to a tolerable level.
Get real, like it or not, that is today's reality.
Fox news and other faux info take advantage of very limited resources of their audience members. Those presenting substantive info need to find ways to infiltrate and undermine Fox type news by making the real facts easier to grasp by the people I've just described. I'm one of them but I get up an hour early just to read the NYT which right now is 4:00 am to get to my job that starts at 6:00am but they demand you get there by 5:30am to get your full shift pay.
And you can bet your bottom dollar everybody at my job thinks I'm a nut case because of it. I do happen to be one of the few there who even understand that news is fake let alone how and why. And they resent the hell out of me for being a smarty pants that I have to basically not talk to anybody to keep resentment to a tolerable level.
Get real, like it or not, that is today's reality.
1
Fake policy from a fake man? What a surprise.
The US economy is a large ship that requires many parts to coexist for it to function smoothly. Anyone who says that he and he alone can fix it is spewing utter nonsense. It is as if the captain of the sinking Titanic said that he and he alone can keep the ship from sinking by merely moving a few people around.
America was duped by this con artist and now we will have to bear through four years of fake policy. I only wish the fourth estate would take its job more seriously. And the early signs are not very promising.
The US economy is a large ship that requires many parts to coexist for it to function smoothly. Anyone who says that he and he alone can fix it is spewing utter nonsense. It is as if the captain of the sinking Titanic said that he and he alone can keep the ship from sinking by merely moving a few people around.
America was duped by this con artist and now we will have to bear through four years of fake policy. I only wish the fourth estate would take its job more seriously. And the early signs are not very promising.
31
In 140 characters or less, how could Mr. Trump be expected to explain his labor and trade policies for more than one factory ar a time?
The kinds of jobs Mr. Trump is "saving" are the ones that he, and his voters, can simply understand: industrial jobs. And he can only do even that by inserting himself into the process, which is more about his personal brand than enacting a cohesive policy.
Most of those jobs will disappear over time anyway, or even rather soon, and not because those opportunities will move to Mexico.
To address that eventuality he seems to be out of characters.
The kinds of jobs Mr. Trump is "saving" are the ones that he, and his voters, can simply understand: industrial jobs. And he can only do even that by inserting himself into the process, which is more about his personal brand than enacting a cohesive policy.
Most of those jobs will disappear over time anyway, or even rather soon, and not because those opportunities will move to Mexico.
To address that eventuality he seems to be out of characters.
284
So since most of those 800 jobs will "disappear over time" then that makes them trivial? I seriously doubt that not being out of work until they do go away is very "trivial" to the workers or their families. Or is it just "trivial" because these lowlife uneducated workers live in a "trivial" flyover state far from the gilded D.C. In which you reside? 800 jobs may be "trivial" for you but to the children and grandchildren of these workers, they are grateful to the President Elect for not playing a round of golf in Hawaii, ala President O, and instead taking the time to do something to keep their "trivial" jobs in a "trivial" community in a "trivial" part of your "Grand" world.
Have a great day and I appreciate you letting me breathe your "trivial" air.
Have a great day and I appreciate you letting me breathe your "trivial" air.
2
"Trivial" is your word, not mine.
What is unfortunate is the lack of a long-term vision or plan, something for the children of these people, who have work today but are left to pray that automation does not come sooner. Mr. Trump is applying band-aids to something that requires rehab.
By the by, I've spent more than half my life in "flyover" country, and DC is gilded where Ivanka and Obama just closed (Kalorama). But not most of it. Thanks for your comment.
What is unfortunate is the lack of a long-term vision or plan, something for the children of these people, who have work today but are left to pray that automation does not come sooner. Mr. Trump is applying band-aids to something that requires rehab.
By the by, I've spent more than half my life in "flyover" country, and DC is gilded where Ivanka and Obama just closed (Kalorama). But not most of it. Thanks for your comment.
3
G.H. - The fact that the unemployment rate has gone way down under Obama shows he has saved millions of jobs, not just 800.
Only he hasn't tweeted about it.
Only he hasn't tweeted about it.
5
I think most readers would agree with the article that describes the paucity of Trump's approach to Making America Greta again. He seems to be channeling his presidency like a reality T.V. show. Trump is after ratings. The truth is for academics who speak in technical language to describe bad news that most people don't care to understand. They are, as Paul Krugman argues, focused on media headlines. But corporations are complicit with the 'fake policies' for reasons that Krugman explains: they are playing to the audience created by Mr. Trump - people that buy the products they sell. Eventually, people will awake from their angry slumber and see the 'corporate democracy' that replaced the 'government for the people'. Where Russia has Oligarchs, U.S. has a concentration of modern corporate jewels that rank as the most profitable and wealthiest in the world. These corporations have leverage on the U.S. more than Mr. Trump's executive powers suggest. Corporations outlive presidential terms. The pay-back will be, as Mr. Trump promised, "lower corporate taxes". In the meantime, corporations will play under Trump's rules as long as a quid pro quo - lower corporate taxes in exchange for reshoring jobs. The ends justify the means. I expect Paul Krugman to complete the argument presented in his article with a more refined cost-benefit of those "temporary" jobs that Trump is exploiting with Big Corporate cooperation in anticipation of major tax breaks. There are no free lunches.
6
Is that really what galls the left? That he is breaking your preconceived notions of how a President Elect should act? The man has done nothing officially yet. Nothing. Should lightning strike him tomorrow he will have left not one law, policy or action. I find it refreshing that Trump was not obligated to spend the time from the election to the inauguration having to suck up to big donors for getting him elected. Hillary is doing this and she lost. When Obama was elected, I did not vote for him but unlike the left these days, I gave the man my respect as Commander and Chief of this nation. Obama took office after the swearing in and the press was full of praise for this young Senator from Illinois, he was bringing new ideas and technology into the White House. He was not just following the same old routine. He was called innovative. But let Trump make a couple of calls and, doesn't matter if he threatened or cajoled, 800 or so jobs will be saved for the time being but Trump is wreaking havoc on the institution of government for not being like his predecessors.
3
Terrific article Professor K. In fact, my rants of late have focused on the utter failure of the Fourth Estate to accurately and adequately cover the presidential election. Now that this nation's worst nightmare will soon become reality, I'm on my hands and knees begging the news media to hit the reset button.
How can it be so difficult for our media organizations to fully cover the czar-elect's actions? For example, when Softbank recently announced its plan to hire 5,000 U.S. workers and invest $50 Million in the economy, Mr. Chump decided to invent a new reality by taking credit for Softbank's actions. At that point it must be incumbent on the media to report the entire story and make clear to the public that the Softbank investment that Gump is now patting himself on the back for was already announced publicly, thereby having nothing to do with the incredible powers of persuasion of our orange friend.
Can I suggest that the news services come to an understanding that when it comes to Cheeto Man, they owe it to the American people to communicate the whole story, separating fact from fiction. The Times should lead the effort.
How can it be so difficult for our media organizations to fully cover the czar-elect's actions? For example, when Softbank recently announced its plan to hire 5,000 U.S. workers and invest $50 Million in the economy, Mr. Chump decided to invent a new reality by taking credit for Softbank's actions. At that point it must be incumbent on the media to report the entire story and make clear to the public that the Softbank investment that Gump is now patting himself on the back for was already announced publicly, thereby having nothing to do with the incredible powers of persuasion of our orange friend.
Can I suggest that the news services come to an understanding that when it comes to Cheeto Man, they owe it to the American people to communicate the whole story, separating fact from fiction. The Times should lead the effort.
61
The USA has elected the president it deserves. Because of its studied superficiality and self-indulgent "me" culture that is going strong, unchecked by anything in its path including sudden death for those who indulge in the current fashion of opioid consumption, the nation is doomed. Trump is merely the rash that the rotten body politic has broken out into, and as such concentrates its disgusting aspects.
16
Again, Paul Krugman deals forthrightly with the real issues we face as a nation, unlike some columnists (i.e. D. Brooks) who just offer up vague navel-gazing.
Paul, the role played by you and people like you is going to be of vital importance, especially after January 20th. It is imperative that you continue to tell the truth to the American people. The truth will not always be welcomed by everyone but it is essential to tell it.
Thank you Dr. Krugman. This is an important piece here. Watching Mr. Pence address the House Republicans on C-SPAN yesterday was a revelation in how even straight, gavel-to-gavel reporting can be used for demagogic purposes by a wily partisan.
Mr. Pence passed along just-plain-wrong assertions about the ACA, naming them as facts everyone knows. Does he use botox? He can can lie so placidly. There, I'm creating my own fake news with my speculations.
What I read in the "News" sections of the NYTimes often hasn't had the correct headline and emphasizes the spin and not the reality of the situation. Maybe reality gets touched on in paragraph eight, but that's too late.
Often I believe your take on a situation is correctly expressed on the Opinion Page Dr. Krugman, but on the Home Page it says otherwise. One paper, two opposing views. What do we do in a world where generally responsible news sources can't be relied upon to get it right? And in this brave new world there are so many, competing, irresponsible purveyors of "news."
Mr. Pence passed along just-plain-wrong assertions about the ACA, naming them as facts everyone knows. Does he use botox? He can can lie so placidly. There, I'm creating my own fake news with my speculations.
What I read in the "News" sections of the NYTimes often hasn't had the correct headline and emphasizes the spin and not the reality of the situation. Maybe reality gets touched on in paragraph eight, but that's too late.
Often I believe your take on a situation is correctly expressed on the Opinion Page Dr. Krugman, but on the Home Page it says otherwise. One paper, two opposing views. What do we do in a world where generally responsible news sources can't be relied upon to get it right? And in this brave new world there are so many, competing, irresponsible purveyors of "news."
Mr Krugman is right to criticize media (including his own NYT) for spilling ink and TV time over insignificant events. However, Democratic campaigns have fallen for the same trap. Instead of focusing on Trump's outrageous character, they should have developed sound bites on just the type of comparison Krugman makes. Without mentioning names, they could gently educate the public on how grandstanding events like marching into the Carrier have little to do with the overall economy. And watch out about calling those who fall for it 'rubes', which reminds me of the deplorable 'deplorable' disastrous comment by Clinton. Don't insult those who join most of the main media by spending time on trivialities. They rightly sense there are real problems, and they grasp for easy answers. They need to be offered better answers, not to be radicalized by Ivy League suits (even those like Krugman whom I like.) A better approach is the old sales technique of feel-felt-found : I understand how you feel (i.e., about disappearing factory jobs and the desire for a strong leader who promises impossible solutions.) Many have felt that way, but over time, they've found these solutions to be more effective...for what it's worth.
771
Why is so many in the left saying that 800 jobs is inconsequential? That is 800 jobs that had Trump not put pressure on Carrier would have been lost. If one of those jobs was yours or a family members would it still be inconsequential? If corporations see that the Trump administration is serious about at least keeping some manufacturing jobs here then that 800 will bring some more and some more. See how that goes. But no, the left is still being so petty about Hillary losing to Trump that they could care less about the fact that it doesn't matter if Trumps presidency lasts only one day or 8 years, he will have helped to keep 800 jobs here as of today.
2
This is fake equivalence. NYT has reported much more responsibly than, for example, CNN, which gave Trump countless hours of coverage, and can likely be credited with his media prominence and eventual electoral college win. NYT was the first (and possibly only) media outlet to use the word "liar" to describe Mr. Trump.
2
Until Trump's supporters are willing to trust like Dr. Krugman, let alone even listen to educated people, who earn their pay by spending the time to study economic policy and know what they're talking about with evidence--not gut feelings, Americans will simply remain "uneducated". And as Trump revealed that's the way he wants them.
2
Fake policy, fake news, and a fake as president... the fake as president uses his twitter account to control his fake personal narrative and fake policy decisions. And keeping the fake narrative going as a vital element in his fake presidency, he knows is vitally important for the maintenance of all things "Trump." So there you have it, a new and revolutionary form of policy formation for the 21st century: one or two mindlessly irresponsible tweets a day, and by tomorrow, Trump has a clear slate and another opportunity to create fake policy. Elegant really... and he knows he tweet his way in to history.
752
A fake as President. Not. What you see, what he tweets and who he hangs with, that's what Trump actually is. It ain't pretty, it's reality and standby for four long years of the Republican Occupy the White House movement.
3
Have you noticed that everything Trump calls someone, is who he is? He calls Schumer the Head Clown, he calls the media the Lying Media. He's a Crazy Old Coot and some day he'll be calling someone a Crazy Old Coot.
6
I have more confidence in mainstream media than you have. Paul has cited the issue and I anticipate seeing remediation of the headlines which should be written to cite facts not hyperbole.
2
I can't wait for the Fox News headline: "Boeing and Trump reach agreement to keep ten jobs in U.S. to make gold plated faucets for Air Force One".
97
Yes! perfect.
And the tanning beds for the White House!
1
Trump is still running the con and the MSM plays along letting
him create headlines that shall we say just change the subject.
20 million people losing health insurance is a lot for significnt
than 700 jobs that may not have been going anywjere
The MSM has learned nothing.
We are in the Hotel California you can check out but never leave
him create headlines that shall we say just change the subject.
20 million people losing health insurance is a lot for significnt
than 700 jobs that may not have been going anywjere
The MSM has learned nothing.
We are in the Hotel California you can check out but never leave
12
Don't confuse me with the facts. People prefer to believe the news that best fits their worldviews. Had it been Obama who stepped in at Carrier -- and he would have done so with a great deal more grace & tact -- would I have been more favorably impressed? Most likely, yes. But I immediately knew, even before the facts emerged, that Trump's Carrier "intervention" would come with multiple caveats. This was largely based on Trump's history as a flim-flam artiste, but it was also based on my visceral view of him as a loud-mouthed phony.
It's going to take a long time -- and a severe downturn in the economy -- for more than a few "rubes" to figure out they've been had by America's Top Stuntman. Some of the major media, including the NYT, have published stories about how rural Americans are anticipating the Trump administration. Some Trump voters say they will hold him to his campaign promises, but reports like those of Robert Leonard, who wrote a Times op-ed piece, suggest that Trump supporters will stick with him -- and with Congressional Republicans -- no matter how badly Republican policies hurt them. Why? Because politics are driven by biases.
Social science & common sense say that liberals are better than conservatives at weaving new facts into their worldviews, but knowing how my own biases affect my receipt of news, I'll give the rubes time to figure out they've been conned. Like till April Fools Day.
The Constant Weader at www.RealityChex.com
It's going to take a long time -- and a severe downturn in the economy -- for more than a few "rubes" to figure out they've been had by America's Top Stuntman. Some of the major media, including the NYT, have published stories about how rural Americans are anticipating the Trump administration. Some Trump voters say they will hold him to his campaign promises, but reports like those of Robert Leonard, who wrote a Times op-ed piece, suggest that Trump supporters will stick with him -- and with Congressional Republicans -- no matter how badly Republican policies hurt them. Why? Because politics are driven by biases.
Social science & common sense say that liberals are better than conservatives at weaving new facts into their worldviews, but knowing how my own biases affect my receipt of news, I'll give the rubes time to figure out they've been conned. Like till April Fools Day.
The Constant Weader at www.RealityChex.com
1376
It's a cult. And this stuff is an end of life phenomenon. The US is dying. We will soon enter a state of terminal agitation. Young people know this and self medicate with narcotic. Yes fellow citizen the end is near.
3
Again, welcome back to this forum, Marie. I don't agree with your premises, but it was an elevated comment, well worthy of a "pick".
2
The Robert Leonard piece was chilling, but i didn't buy it completely. Sure, trump tapped into a strong rural American distrust of the educated and urban, and many of those people are hard-working and superficially appealing. But i think Hillary had it right when she called another huge block of his voters the "basket of deplorables", since at the end of the day he had the strong support of racists, fascists, gun-nuts, wife-beaters and anti-choice fanatics, all willing to look the other way about the other gruesome qualities in their "champion" in exchange for helping them vanquish the "liberals", whose chief crime appears to be that they believe in Government and aiding the unfortunate.
9
Fake is real. They shoot horses, don't they?
1
Taking credit for saving jobs that were already saved in order to generate cheap PR is emblematic of Donald Trump.
Rather than do anything positive himself, or make any personal sacrifice, trump gloms into corporate PR like a fly to sticky paper.
He runs a very lean communications operation – a party of one. All that's needed is a tweet or two and voila--Trump turns any business decision into personal gain. Yet nobody calls him on it.
The press is teetering dangerously between complicity and outrage. Journalism has not found its place in the coming Trump Administration. Why bury the lead in a benign headline? Why demand the public plow through paragraphs of dross in order to find the nugget of truth?
Come on media!!! Do your jobs! Are you really afraid of Donald Trump and his potential for lawsuits?
It's your job to separate fact from fiction, particularly as January 20 is just two weeks away.
Rather than do anything positive himself, or make any personal sacrifice, trump gloms into corporate PR like a fly to sticky paper.
He runs a very lean communications operation – a party of one. All that's needed is a tweet or two and voila--Trump turns any business decision into personal gain. Yet nobody calls him on it.
The press is teetering dangerously between complicity and outrage. Journalism has not found its place in the coming Trump Administration. Why bury the lead in a benign headline? Why demand the public plow through paragraphs of dross in order to find the nugget of truth?
Come on media!!! Do your jobs! Are you really afraid of Donald Trump and his potential for lawsuits?
It's your job to separate fact from fiction, particularly as January 20 is just two weeks away.
186
HNY, Christine. And don't forget the threats of referring individual journalists to the IRS for tax audits. Don the Con also pulled press credentials during his campaign and relegated the remaining journalists to roped off "pens" to the back and sides of his rallies.
3
This is a human issue. The best way to explain a trend is with specifics, with a human story. By definition, these are anecdotes, and can mislead as well. We may be able to fight this by finding a "true" story, one that illustrates the real trend, every time someone trumpets a fake story. So for example, each time Donald mentions a factory he saved, we could mention the larger factory that he didn't save. Headline: XXX company outsources 500 more jobs to India, no law in place to stop this. Headline: XXX company expands factory in China, no law in place to keep these jobs in the USA.
This could be a sort of "counter" to the fake news trend, going on the attack instead of always debunking falsities. We ignore the falsities, and counter with a true story that reads well and is even a more significant illustration of the trend. We are now playing defense in Government, so now is the moment for the media to go on the attack.
This could be a sort of "counter" to the fake news trend, going on the attack instead of always debunking falsities. We ignore the falsities, and counter with a true story that reads well and is even a more significant illustration of the trend. We are now playing defense in Government, so now is the moment for the media to go on the attack.
43
These are great suggestions. Swatting each lie, countering each one. Excellent. Thanks.
2
Keep saying:
"The plural of anecdote is not data."
"The plural of anecdote is not data."
5
Unfortunately, the media are largely owned by Republican overlords who are only too happy to place Trump's pre-presidential 'achievements,' supposedly inspired by the needs of the common folk, under a very deceptive magnifying glass.
How can an illusion that's been playing for so long still be mistaken for reality? Perhaps people are so full of despair that reality is the last thing they want now. Cheap fiction rules in our political world at least as much as in our bookstores.
I'm tempted to believe that Trump's entire dog-and-pony show is accepted not in spite of but because of its obvious untruths. The content is wholly bogus but its entertainment value endures. Kind of like 'The Apprentice.'
Perhaps the big payoff for Trump voters came on that fateful November day when they chose falsehood over fact. Alienated to the point of hatefulness, the Trumpites could at least feel the exhilaration of performing an antisocial act, never mind that they would suffer the consequences of their choice at least as much as any other segment of the population.
Their fated end? To discover that the charms of their rebellion rapidly wear thin. When it becomes undeniable that the fix is in and they've been left holding the wrong end of the stick, they'll feel an empty cavity where their guts once were. These 'winners' will take nothing.
How can an illusion that's been playing for so long still be mistaken for reality? Perhaps people are so full of despair that reality is the last thing they want now. Cheap fiction rules in our political world at least as much as in our bookstores.
I'm tempted to believe that Trump's entire dog-and-pony show is accepted not in spite of but because of its obvious untruths. The content is wholly bogus but its entertainment value endures. Kind of like 'The Apprentice.'
Perhaps the big payoff for Trump voters came on that fateful November day when they chose falsehood over fact. Alienated to the point of hatefulness, the Trumpites could at least feel the exhilaration of performing an antisocial act, never mind that they would suffer the consequences of their choice at least as much as any other segment of the population.
Their fated end? To discover that the charms of their rebellion rapidly wear thin. When it becomes undeniable that the fix is in and they've been left holding the wrong end of the stick, they'll feel an empty cavity where their guts once were. These 'winners' will take nothing.
53
We will be hearing more fake policy from Trump now that Americans have learned from Nightly Business Report that stores like Macy's, Sears/KMart will be closing 100s of their brick and mortar stores nationwide now that depressing sales figures for 2016 are in. Truth be told, they will be doing these job destroying closings since their online sales are way up and saving them tons of money since the cost of selling online comes with little expense. But expect Trump to grandstand somehow, threaten somehow and make it appear he will stop Americans from losing all those jobs eliminated by heartless corporations. And blame Obama.
51
He is already taking credit for the Stock Market bubble!
5
Dr. Krugman, enormous credit must go to President Obama for the agonizingly slow but steadily-improving economy.
He was elected in 2008, in part because W. steered the Rolls Royce into the ditch. With no (as in none) help from a resentful (white) Congress, the new president got into the muddy ditch in his tie and tails and, sleeves rolled up, worked to get the great vehicle, tires still spinning wildly, back onto the road. This was not a zero-to-60 MPH in five seconds; it was more like five years, but, by heavens, the car is back on the road and purring.
When W. left office, the unemployment rate was 7.8%. Under President Obama, it peaked at 10% in late 2009; it dropped to 4.6% in December. So when Donald Trump crows that he will "make America great again" with a colossal return of jobs from China and Mexico, he lied. Why was he believed by "the rubes?" A compliant, malleable snooze culture.
Rush Limbaugh, the high priest of Hate Radio, his fellow (and sister) birds of prey circling the skies in search of carrion, Fox News and its daily screeds of misinformation, CNN and (yes!) MSNBC, wary of falling too far behind the Fox behemoth, also shortened their stirrups to parrot Trump's narrative.
Trump will benefit, for a small while, from the (mostly) unthanked blessings that the Obama economy conferred upon America, one of which was a rescued automobile industry whose beneficiaries elected Trump at the 11th hour.
Trump's Titanic is cruising the waters without a compass.
He was elected in 2008, in part because W. steered the Rolls Royce into the ditch. With no (as in none) help from a resentful (white) Congress, the new president got into the muddy ditch in his tie and tails and, sleeves rolled up, worked to get the great vehicle, tires still spinning wildly, back onto the road. This was not a zero-to-60 MPH in five seconds; it was more like five years, but, by heavens, the car is back on the road and purring.
When W. left office, the unemployment rate was 7.8%. Under President Obama, it peaked at 10% in late 2009; it dropped to 4.6% in December. So when Donald Trump crows that he will "make America great again" with a colossal return of jobs from China and Mexico, he lied. Why was he believed by "the rubes?" A compliant, malleable snooze culture.
Rush Limbaugh, the high priest of Hate Radio, his fellow (and sister) birds of prey circling the skies in search of carrion, Fox News and its daily screeds of misinformation, CNN and (yes!) MSNBC, wary of falling too far behind the Fox behemoth, also shortened their stirrups to parrot Trump's narrative.
Trump will benefit, for a small while, from the (mostly) unthanked blessings that the Obama economy conferred upon America, one of which was a rescued automobile industry whose beneficiaries elected Trump at the 11th hour.
Trump's Titanic is cruising the waters without a compass.
474
Let us hope that the impending disaster the Narcissist-Elect will bring is only big enough to destroy the toxic, racist, misogynist, plutocratic failure of a party (the GOP) that has worked very hard to bring us to this moment and the incoming horror for the last forty years, but not quite big enough to destroy the country.
I am not optimistic.
I am not optimistic.
129
Wait, you live in Crete and you honestly think the economy is purring again?
Are you in a winter home somewhere? NO-body living in Crete, or in any of the south suburbs who has not yet fled to Indiana, believes that true unemployment is down, and good wage-living jobs are up.
Something is funny here.
Crete, Illinois, you say??
(Illinois is losing the most residents per state annually because of the fiscal mess. I don't believe you are touting either the Illinois or the American economy under Bush and then Obams. We're not even out of the woods yet...)
Are you in a winter home somewhere? NO-body living in Crete, or in any of the south suburbs who has not yet fled to Indiana, believes that true unemployment is down, and good wage-living jobs are up.
Something is funny here.
Crete, Illinois, you say??
(Illinois is losing the most residents per state annually because of the fiscal mess. I don't believe you are touting either the Illinois or the American economy under Bush and then Obams. We're not even out of the woods yet...)
You should perhaps read "Listen, Liberal" by Thomas Frank to understand just how greatly Obama sold out the people while he "righted" the car.
2
We can expect many more grand, glitzy, meaningless gestures from the White House for the next couple of years anyway. After all, grand, glitzy, and meaningless is the very essence of Trump; the man AND the brand.
Thank you, Professor Krugman, for dispersing the smoke and shattering the mirrors and for trying, anyway, to get the news media to do the due diligence we should expect.
But, after Jan. 20, watch your back.
Thank you, Professor Krugman, for dispersing the smoke and shattering the mirrors and for trying, anyway, to get the news media to do the due diligence we should expect.
But, after Jan. 20, watch your back.
258
I'm sure the fine lines of distinction, even if they are played out in mainstream media, will be subject to the extreme spin of the Trump and GOP machines. And depending upon how fact encounters rumour in the future, the voters will vote for or against in the mid-terms or 2020. But more important will be whether they find it credible that the promises they voted on have worked for them.
I think that's a harder call to make. Anything could sway those decisions in the final months of those elections.
Sadly the Truth-tellers have little sway in the matters of the state of affairs. "We" can only say that we told you so. Being right is no consolation when tsunamis hit. There have to be clearer approaches towards showing people how to *measure* their prosperity or freedom or law or the quality of their governance.
These are institutional goals that institutions must fulfill. "We" have been "right but wrong" too many times in the recent past to be content in smug commentary. Action has to be methodical and progress has to be measurable for anything to improve.
I think that's a harder call to make. Anything could sway those decisions in the final months of those elections.
Sadly the Truth-tellers have little sway in the matters of the state of affairs. "We" can only say that we told you so. Being right is no consolation when tsunamis hit. There have to be clearer approaches towards showing people how to *measure* their prosperity or freedom or law or the quality of their governance.
These are institutional goals that institutions must fulfill. "We" have been "right but wrong" too many times in the recent past to be content in smug commentary. Action has to be methodical and progress has to be measurable for anything to improve.
14
Since the roots of the problems with journalism are economic, I wish that Professor Krugman would look more deeply at WHY the mainstream news coverage is so bad. How has it become possible for a con artist like Trump to effectively control so many "respectable" news sources?
The BROKEN economic models are why. There is a long tradition of news as a public service. The old newspaper business model divided the costs between advertising and people who basically felt they had to pay for information.
The advertising part mutated over the years, especially when radio and TV got frequency-based monopolies with a requirement to subsidize news as a public service (until Reagan's deregulation). Nowadays newspaper advertising is nearly dead and fading fast. It's too ineffective and expensive and unfocused. Not viable in competition with new personalized advertising technologies.
So what about people who used to pay for their daily newspaper? Now they can get the news on the Web, and the NY Times still hasn't figured out how hard it is to compete with free. They keep trying to sell subscriptions of various forms, but everyone knows how to get the same stories somewhere else without paying for the subscription. Maybe the quality is lower, but diversity can actually be advantageous...
The problems might be curable, but NOT without NEW economic models. How about journalism that offers and even sells SOLUTIONS to the problems? Are you as sick of the problems as I am?
The BROKEN economic models are why. There is a long tradition of news as a public service. The old newspaper business model divided the costs between advertising and people who basically felt they had to pay for information.
The advertising part mutated over the years, especially when radio and TV got frequency-based monopolies with a requirement to subsidize news as a public service (until Reagan's deregulation). Nowadays newspaper advertising is nearly dead and fading fast. It's too ineffective and expensive and unfocused. Not viable in competition with new personalized advertising technologies.
So what about people who used to pay for their daily newspaper? Now they can get the news on the Web, and the NY Times still hasn't figured out how hard it is to compete with free. They keep trying to sell subscriptions of various forms, but everyone knows how to get the same stories somewhere else without paying for the subscription. Maybe the quality is lower, but diversity can actually be advantageous...
The problems might be curable, but NOT without NEW economic models. How about journalism that offers and even sells SOLUTIONS to the problems? Are you as sick of the problems as I am?
84
He can't look at this; this is his bread and butter. He's too self interested to seriously tackle this, even though I agree it is THE problem with media today.
1
Still, none of this would work without the complicity of the news media. And I’m not talking about “fake news,” as big a problem as that is becoming; I’m talking about respectable, mainstream news coverage.
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Paul,
Have you taken even one hour of media "ethics"? What training do you have, exactly, for being a journalist?
I ask, because you are always tooting your own horn, and yet I don't see the performance. Where have your economic writings benefitted your employer, nevermind the readers of this paper or those who aspire to lead?
You still cannot take responsibility for your role in creating the exclusive "journolist", where young men behind the scenes colluded to spin our news coverage.
Look in the mirror, Mr. Krugman. You do not like what the "new media" has evolved into? Get thee to a longstanding j-school, so you can determine your own role in setting the new standards of "your" new profession.
(Sadly, the more you "write" here, the less credibility your economics work -- as a true science -- will be given. You've traded in your alleged gift, your true profession, for fame -- and you're a pretty lousy journalist, at that.)
Hope my comment gets published, you need to listen with both ears living in your elitist echo chamber, sir. Good day!
(ps. The reason the rest of us LOVE stories like Carrier's is: we're finally turning things around. No more just selling out to other countries without a fight. Yep, those stories are symbolic.)
---------------------------
Paul,
Have you taken even one hour of media "ethics"? What training do you have, exactly, for being a journalist?
I ask, because you are always tooting your own horn, and yet I don't see the performance. Where have your economic writings benefitted your employer, nevermind the readers of this paper or those who aspire to lead?
You still cannot take responsibility for your role in creating the exclusive "journolist", where young men behind the scenes colluded to spin our news coverage.
Look in the mirror, Mr. Krugman. You do not like what the "new media" has evolved into? Get thee to a longstanding j-school, so you can determine your own role in setting the new standards of "your" new profession.
(Sadly, the more you "write" here, the less credibility your economics work -- as a true science -- will be given. You've traded in your alleged gift, your true profession, for fame -- and you're a pretty lousy journalist, at that.)
Hope my comment gets published, you need to listen with both ears living in your elitist echo chamber, sir. Good day!
(ps. The reason the rest of us LOVE stories like Carrier's is: we're finally turning things around. No more just selling out to other countries without a fight. Yep, those stories are symbolic.)
13
You could be right, Midway. No arguments on that. And the "finally turning things around" is the correct response to years of Democrat (and Republican) orthodoxy that has destroyed jobs is so many communities.
Recent history is on your side. It is for the Professor to watch the results of your choice in these elections.
If Mr. Trump is right in turning things around, then more power to him. But that is a benchmark that has to meet its own high standards of improving the economy, winning winning winning, eliminating ACA, re-energizing depleted communities, building the wall, etc., etc.
This is not the time for nay-sayers to say "we" were right. This is the time or us to pitch in to what *could* be a real lesson in our errors.
More power to your Choice for the next 2 years. But he will be fair game after that.
Maybe you will be right and I, wrong, Let's look at substance in the meantime, and not get needlessly personal.
Recent history is on your side. It is for the Professor to watch the results of your choice in these elections.
If Mr. Trump is right in turning things around, then more power to him. But that is a benchmark that has to meet its own high standards of improving the economy, winning winning winning, eliminating ACA, re-energizing depleted communities, building the wall, etc., etc.
This is not the time for nay-sayers to say "we" were right. This is the time or us to pitch in to what *could* be a real lesson in our errors.
More power to your Choice for the next 2 years. But he will be fair game after that.
Maybe you will be right and I, wrong, Let's look at substance in the meantime, and not get needlessly personal.
Paul Krugman isn't a journalist by profession and neither is he a "reporter" here in the NYT. This is an "opinion" section of the paper.
As for you: perhaps you should take your own advice and enroll in some economics classes so you can understand that the Carrier story is emblematic of many economic fallacies.
As for you: perhaps you should take your own advice and enroll in some economics classes so you can understand that the Carrier story is emblematic of many economic fallacies.
Paul Krugman informs his readers about economic and social matters in the USA. Trump's grand plan to make America great again, involves giving even more money to the 0.1%, at the expense of the 99.9%. We know trickle down economics has never worked to benefit the less well off. It is like a pyramid scheme where all the wealth is creamed off from the middle and lower class and redistributed to the mega rich.
The Carrier story is not an example of turning things around. The economy has been slowly improving since the GFC. The Carrier decision involves less than 1000 jobs, which look like going out of the USA, in the medium to long term.
As for selling out to other countries, increasing trade protectionist policies will be bad for the USA and the rest of the world. Trade wars drive down incomes, reduce production and consumption.
I enjoy reading Paul Krugman's columns. The smoke and mirrors of spin are removed, and the reality of economic policies is shown for those who care to read and comprehend.
Most of Trump's supporters, unless they are mega rich, will not benefit from his policies. Populist policies, not thought through, will worsen economic conditions. Trump's main policy is to increase the income of wealth of Trump enterprises. He is skilled at using other peoples money, to make him wealthier.
I hope Trump is a good President for most Americans. Regular open press conferences, and showing his tax returns, would be a good way to keep America great.
The Carrier story is not an example of turning things around. The economy has been slowly improving since the GFC. The Carrier decision involves less than 1000 jobs, which look like going out of the USA, in the medium to long term.
As for selling out to other countries, increasing trade protectionist policies will be bad for the USA and the rest of the world. Trade wars drive down incomes, reduce production and consumption.
I enjoy reading Paul Krugman's columns. The smoke and mirrors of spin are removed, and the reality of economic policies is shown for those who care to read and comprehend.
Most of Trump's supporters, unless they are mega rich, will not benefit from his policies. Populist policies, not thought through, will worsen economic conditions. Trump's main policy is to increase the income of wealth of Trump enterprises. He is skilled at using other peoples money, to make him wealthier.
I hope Trump is a good President for most Americans. Regular open press conferences, and showing his tax returns, would be a good way to keep America great.
21
Along with fake policy, America has a fake news problem that is not borne in news sites propagating real fake news from Macedonia, but from corporate media partially reporting on the news or worse, distorting it. Take jobs, for instance, and the way it was reported in the media, versus economic analyses by actual economists based on the BLS' jobs report.
http://www.rimaregas.com/2016/12/the-maddening-variance-between-economis...
The result of such discrepancies in the reporting of news, whether one calls it fake news and their discussion by politicians and public intellectuals resulted in the voter revolt of 2016. After all, when there is so much of a disconnect between what one reads and hears in the news and the life people live, something has to give.
http://www.rimaregas.com/2016/11/silent-class-revolt-most-democrats-vote...
http://www.rimaregas.com/2016/12/the-maddening-variance-between-economis...
The result of such discrepancies in the reporting of news, whether one calls it fake news and their discussion by politicians and public intellectuals resulted in the voter revolt of 2016. After all, when there is so much of a disconnect between what one reads and hears in the news and the life people live, something has to give.
http://www.rimaregas.com/2016/11/silent-class-revolt-most-democrats-vote...
12
We've been living under the forced fake governance of the GOP - tyranny, really - for the last six years. That tyranny is what has forced 95 million Americans into a state of near poverty and into a class British economist Guy Standing calls the precariat. The same has happened to millions of British, French and others across the European continent. This is the result of decades of neoliberal policies which have done much harm.
Sadly, Republican voters haven't yet realized the con that conservatism and neoconservatism has been. Neither have Democrats with neoliberalism, AKA centrism.
Today, Senator Tim Kaine and 12 other Democrats, including Chuck Schumer have called for a compromise on Obamacare. Whatever has possessed them? Why can't Democrats learn from Republicans like Mitch McConnell who has run the most successful opposition a demagogue - a terrorist, really - has ever run against a president? Why would Democrats help Republicans save themselves from a disaster? Let the GOP bury itself in its own failure. Eight years of folly didn't do the job. Let them get so drunk on their own power that they go after every nightmare scenario they've cooked up and act on it. That is what it'll take for failure to be complete and permanent.
Meanwhile, Democrats need to learn. Triangulation, meaning compromising when no compromise should be made, is what has brought us to this horrible point in time. Fix yourselves, Democrats, and allow the GOP its own failure.
=
www.rimaregas.com
Sadly, Republican voters haven't yet realized the con that conservatism and neoconservatism has been. Neither have Democrats with neoliberalism, AKA centrism.
Today, Senator Tim Kaine and 12 other Democrats, including Chuck Schumer have called for a compromise on Obamacare. Whatever has possessed them? Why can't Democrats learn from Republicans like Mitch McConnell who has run the most successful opposition a demagogue - a terrorist, really - has ever run against a president? Why would Democrats help Republicans save themselves from a disaster? Let the GOP bury itself in its own failure. Eight years of folly didn't do the job. Let them get so drunk on their own power that they go after every nightmare scenario they've cooked up and act on it. That is what it'll take for failure to be complete and permanent.
Meanwhile, Democrats need to learn. Triangulation, meaning compromising when no compromise should be made, is what has brought us to this horrible point in time. Fix yourselves, Democrats, and allow the GOP its own failure.
=
www.rimaregas.com
951
From the Times:
Democrats Appeal for Compromise: Alter, but Don’t Gut, the Health Law
http://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/05/us/politics/affordable-care-act-congre...
Democrats Appeal for Compromise: Alter, but Don’t Gut, the Health Law
http://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/05/us/politics/affordable-care-act-congre...
6
Rima, one of the best, most clearly-stated comments regarding opposition strategy I've read in a long time. As a liberal, I have always recognized that conservatives love the idea of cooperation and compromise as long as it's the other side that does all the cooperating and compromising. McConnell's (actually brilliant) strategy was successful in making government (and by association, liberals) look completely ineffective and incompetent despite all of the enormous challenges the country faced after the last conservative's failed military and economic policies nearly tanked the whole world economy.
Bill Clinton's political triangulation in the 90's brought us to this spot. It was a bad idea then and it's bad strategy now. And you are absolutely correct: no more giving-in to the idea that conservatives have our best interests at heart. Republicans must now do more than look good in the headlines and they must not be allowed to blame the dems and liberal policies for their own failures. This will truly be challenge liberals face as we move forward.
Bill Clinton's political triangulation in the 90's brought us to this spot. It was a bad idea then and it's bad strategy now. And you are absolutely correct: no more giving-in to the idea that conservatives have our best interests at heart. Republicans must now do more than look good in the headlines and they must not be allowed to blame the dems and liberal policies for their own failures. This will truly be challenge liberals face as we move forward.
229
ExCook,
Thank you. Sadly, I have no confidence that the newly reelected Democratic leadership even sees the dangers, much less is up to the challenge. After four increasingly disastrous losses in a row, the establishment is clinging to power over a party that has shrunk considerably. While some have come out and said that they need to listen more to the base, they've done the polar opposite of that in placing only the most neoliberal Democrats in positions of power in the House and Senate and are opposing the progressive who is running for the DNC Chair slot, while running a very ugly whisper campaign against him in the media. Same dirty tactics, different year.
--
http://www.rimaregas.com/2016/12/progressives-liberals-arent-into-you-it...
Thank you. Sadly, I have no confidence that the newly reelected Democratic leadership even sees the dangers, much less is up to the challenge. After four increasingly disastrous losses in a row, the establishment is clinging to power over a party that has shrunk considerably. While some have come out and said that they need to listen more to the base, they've done the polar opposite of that in placing only the most neoliberal Democrats in positions of power in the House and Senate and are opposing the progressive who is running for the DNC Chair slot, while running a very ugly whisper campaign against him in the media. Same dirty tactics, different year.
--
http://www.rimaregas.com/2016/12/progressives-liberals-arent-into-you-it...
34
Unless one of those jobs is yours.