New York Times columnist Paul Krugman shrugged off the notion that most Americans are actually struggling in what he declared a “good economy” under President Biden, despite what they tell pollsters.
“I’m OK, people I know are OK, but somewhere out there it’s terrible,” Krugman wrote Tuesday while blocking replies to his post on X.
Krugman shared a link to his Monday column titled “Good Economy, Negative Vibes: The Story Continues,” where he began by saying “we’ve had so much winning that we’ve gotten tired of winning, or at any rate blasé about it” when it comes to economic news.
“Paul Krugman doesn’t know any regular Americans, and so he and the rest of the corporate press mock and gaslight you while you struggle with your rent or mortgage, food and other living costs. Absolutely zero compassion or connection to reality,” financial commentator Carol Roth reacted to Krugman’s post.
“How much do you get paid to be this out of touch with normies?” Daily Caller editor-in-chief Mike Bastasch asked.
“Krugman is ok. He locked replies, so you can not tell him if your fiscal experience is otherwise,” said Michelle Ray of the crypto company SmartFi.
Krugman’s staunch defense of Biden’s economy came just before the Biden administration acknowledged that inflation accelerated in March for the third straight month, exceeding expectations at 3.5% year over year.
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“Last week, we got another terrific employment report — job growth for 39 straight months — and it feels as if hardly anyone noticed. In particular, it’s not clear whether the good news will dent the still widespread but false narrative that President Biden is presiding over a bad economy,” Krugman told readers.
“Start with the facts: Job creation under Biden has been truly amazing, especially when you recall all those confident but wrong predictions of recession. Four years ago, the economy was body-slammed by the Covid-19 pandemic, but we have more than recovered. Four years after the start of the 2007-9 recession, total employment was still down by more than five million; now it’s up by almost six million. The unemployment rate has been below 4 percent for 26 months, the longest streak since the 1960s.”
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The Times columnist acknowledged the “surge” of inflation, something he immediately dismissed as having “mostly subsided” and pointed to a raise in wage earnings.
“Why, then, are so many Americans still telling pollsters that the economy is in bad shape?” Krugman asked. “More often than not, anyone who argues that we’re in a ‘vibecession,’ in which public perceptions are at odds with economic reality, gets tagged as an elitist, out of touch with people’s real-life experience. And there’s a whole genre of commentary to the effect that if you squint at the data hard enough, it shows that the economy really is bad, after all.”
“Without question, there are Americans who are hurting financially — sadly, this is always true to some extent, especially given the weakness of America’s social safety net. But in general, Americans are relatively optimistic about their own finances,” he continued.
The liberal economist attempted to find a silver lining, saying how polls show that despite Americans having a pessimistic view of the national economy, they are much more optimistic about their local economy.
“Basically, Americans are saying, ‘I’m doing OK, people I know are doing OK, but bad things are happening somewhere out there,’” Krugman took away from it. “What explains this disconnect? Inflation surely contributes to bad feelings about the economy. New research by Harvard’s Stefanie Stantcheva confirms an old insight: When both wages and prices are rising, people tend to believe that they earned their wage increases but that inflation took away their hard-won gains. However, inflation aversion doesn’t explain why people think their state is doing well but the nation is a mess.”
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Krugman went on to blame “partisanship” for Biden’s poor economy polling, insisting via polling data that Republican partisanship is currently “much stronger” than Democrat partisanship under Republican presidents.
“Republican politicians and media are united in trashing the Biden economy… Democrats, on the other hand, are divided, with some progressives talking down the economy because they fear that acknowledging the good news might undermine the case for strengthening that weak social safety net,” Krugman wrote. “If you ask me, more progressives should celebrate the current economy, not just to help Biden get re-elected, but because economic success vindicates the progressive vision. I’d argue that Biden deserves some credit for the good news, but the more important point is that policies like the expansion of Obamacare and student debt relief have not, contrary to conservative predictions, dragged the economy down — which means that it’s OK to call for more.”
“The truth is that the U.S. economy is a remarkable success story. Don’t let anyone tell you that it isn’t,” Krugman added.
Axios previously reported in December that House Democrats were ditching the “Bidenomics” slogan touted by the Biden administration as they face a grueling election cycle.
