– Krugman Snaps, Tweets Trump Will Turn America Into “All Out Kleptocracy Like Russia Or Ukraine”:
Just a few days after his latest tweetstorm attacking Donald Trump, the NYT house economist was once again unleashed on Twitter lashing out, only this time he took aim not only at president-elect Donald Trump but also his campaign, contradicting Ray Dalio’s optimistic assessment of America under a Trump administration, instead predicting that Trump would turn the US into an “all-out kleptocracy, along the lines of what happened in Russia or Ukraine.”
The Keynesian expert took aim at Trump’s still to be finalized public and private infrastructure plan, and suggested that instead of boosting public spending it would “be largely about privatizing public assets.” His allegation is that instead of infrastructure investments, the upcoming spending spree would convert public assets into private projects: “His transition team is basically all lobbyists and his infrastructure plan, such as it is, sounds as if it’s going to be largely about privatizing public assets” Krugman tweeted.
Krugman also accused Trump that the inclusion of lobbyists within his transition team shows that he “won’t separate himself from his business interests.”
His conclusion “In short, we’re almost surely looking at all-out kleptocracy, along the lines of what happened in Russia or Ukraine. Strange, isn’t it? After all, it’s not as if we’ve just empowered the same people who stole all those assets abroad.”
Ironically, it was the public’s revulsion to America’s existing kleptocracy – the one in which Wall Street firms and corporations courtesy of free Fed money – successfully and without consequences transferred trillions of assets from the middle class to their own offshore accounts, while leaving others foot the bill, most notably those who guarantee America’s nearly $20 trillion in public debt, that ultimately cost Hillary the presidency and led to Trump’s ascent. Maybe one of these days Krugman will entertain his twitter followers with a just as angry tweetstorm on “cognitive dissonance.”
So, who could have seen this coming? The man who refused to release his tax returns — getting almost no heat from the media 1/
— Paul Krugman (@paulkrugman) November 15, 2016
is now making it clear that he won’t separate himself from his business interests. His transition team is basically all lobbyists 2/
— Paul Krugman (@paulkrugman) November 15, 2016
and his infrastructure plan, such as it is, sounds as if it’s going to be largely about privatizing public assets 3/
— Paul Krugman (@paulkrugman) November 15, 2016
In short, we’re almost surely looking at all-out kleptocracy, along the lines of what happened in Russia or Ukraine. Strange, isn’t it? 4/
— Paul Krugman (@paulkrugman) November 15, 2016
After all, it’s not as if we’ve just empowered the same people who stole all those assets abroad. Oh, wait 5/
— Paul Krugman (@paulkrugman) November 15, 2016
And then, for good measure, Krugman also elucidated that he does not really understand how the US electoral college system works.
A quick thought on the popular vote, which Clinton won — quite possibly by 2 points. Why does it matter? The rules are the rules, right? 1/
— Paul Krugman (@paulkrugman) November 15, 2016
But here’s the thing: Trump clearly intends to break many of the rules, from personal accountability on up. And one justification 2/
— Paul Krugman (@paulkrugman) November 15, 2016
will be that critics have no right to complain, because the American people chose Trump. That would be a bad argument in any case 3/
— Paul Krugman (@paulkrugman) November 15, 2016
but it’s especially bad because the people did make a choice last week — and it was Hillary Clinton. 4/
— Paul Krugman (@paulkrugman) November 15, 2016
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