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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsPaul Krugman: On cronies, cranks and the coronavirus.
Economists Arent the Ones Pushing to Reopen the Economyhttps://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/14/opinion/coronavirus-reopen-economy.html
Trying to predict Trump administration actions really is like Kremlinology, updated for the age of social media. Theres clearly no formal policy process; Donald Trump acts on impulse and intuition, often shaped either by whomever he last met or what he last saw on Fox News, making no use of the vast expertise he could call on if he were willing to listen. Those of us on the outside, and from all accounts, even many people within the administration try to infer whats coming next from tweets and statements by people presumed to be in favor at the moment.
So what does Trumplinology suggest right now? That Trump really, really wants to end the economys lockdown very soon. Early Monday Trump tweeted out an assertion that he has the power to overrule state governors who have imposed lockdown orders which suggests that we may have a constitutional crisis brewing, because as far as anybody knows he has no such power. Meanwhile, in an interview with The New York Times, Peter Navarro, Trumps trade czar, argued that a weak economy might kill more people than the virus.
The thing is, as far as I can tell epidemiologists are united in the belief that its far too soon to be considering any relaxation of social distancing. The lockdowns across America do seem to have flattened the curve, allowing us to just avoid completely overwhelming the health care system. New cases may have peaked. But you dont want to let up until youre in a position to do so without giving the pandemic a second wave. And were nowhere close to that point. So where is this coming from? Ive seen some people portray it as a conflict between epidemiologists and economists, but thats all wrong. Serious economists know what they dont know they recognize and respect experts from other disciplines. A survey of economists found almost unanimous support for tolerating a very large contraction in economic activity until the spread of infections has dropped significantly.
No, this push to reopen is coming not from economists but from cranks and cronies. That is, its coming on one side from people who may describe themselves as economists but whom the professionals consider cranks people like Navarro or Stephen Moore, who Trump tried unsuccessfully to appoint to the Federal Reserve Board. And on the other, its coming from business types with close ties to Trump who suffer from billionaires disease the tendency to assume that just because youre rich youre also smarter than anyone else, even in areas like epidemiology (or, dare I say it, macroeconomics) that require a great deal of technical expertise.
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Paul Krugman: On cronies, cranks and the coronavirus. (Original Post)
Celerity
Apr 2020
OP
"it's coming from business types with close ties to Trump who suffer from billionaire's disease
lindysalsagal
Apr 2020
#3
crickets
(25,987 posts)1. Oh lord, not the Tea Party assholes again...
Hermit-The-Prog
(33,485 posts)2. That tea was spiked with moronavirus; it's a progressive disease.
lindysalsagal
(20,747 posts)3. "it's coming from business types with close ties to Trump who suffer from billionaire's disease
its coming from business types with close ties to Trump who suffer from billionaires disease the tendency to assume that just because youre rich youre also smarter than anyone else,"
It's really that simple.