It’s not the obvious smarts. Lots of economists (biologists, physicists, art historians, et al) have that.
He can communicate complex ideas without unnecessarily dumbing down. He’s a fine *writer.* He’s got a *voice*. He’s an essayist in the Orwell-Vidal tradition. One of a kind. You can’t fake that authenticity.
And that’s why I have raised a billion dollars and stolen all of Krugman’s copyrighted published work (and video appearances) to train my LLM, ChatPRK, which launches right after we sue Krugman for infringing on our IP.
I think only wZy America gets out of this mess is to sponsor Krugman to be natl spokesman to speak to America why this economic moronic. Scary, selfish, disguised,immoral , illegal , unethical plan will be a brutal downturn in our economy and the outside world will laugh in our face.
Tariffs don’t work….ever. We tried it on Japanese cars, steel and other durable goods items and it all failed.
All countries Lise during trade wars as trade comes to screeching halt.
Krugma knows how to get the message out to people so they can understand how bad trump is….
After all, if the exporting country pays the tariff,why is he demanding Walmart not raise prices.wslmart must raise prices of profit growth will come down dramatically which of course will drag down shares and people who own it will get real pissed.
It’s simple…….walmart either raises prices or makes less money. It’s a binary outcome.
There are other comments like yours and I find them misguided.
I thought the balance was fine. Professor Krugman, for all his intelligence, can be remarkably inarticulate. It is rare that a sentence doesn't require two or more beginnings before he finally decides what he wants to say. I subscribe to his Substack (and Bernstein's), but I know more than one person who has turned Krugman off because of his rambling. Is this nitpicking? Yes and no. Years ago, Noam Chomsky, whom the NY Times called America's most important public intellectual, was asked why he didn't get some speaking instruction to make him more accessible. For those who have never heard Chomsky speak, he droned on endlessly in a scratchy monotone. He was a highly intelligent person with a wealth of knowledge, but he was almost impossible to listen to. The point was, Chomsky would have been more effective if his presentation wasn't deadening. Professor Krugman is not nearly as bad as Chomsky was, but the better speaker he is, the more people are likely to listen. Call it superficial if you want to, but that doesn't make it false.
Professor Krugman is better to read than to listen to, in my opinion. Recently, I watched a video of a prepared presentation he gave and it was significantly better than his extemporaneous speaking. I suspect that makes his class lectures more efficient than his spontaneous Substack discussions, otherwise I could imagine students struggling to maintain their attention. Recently, I sent a friend free one-month access to Krugman's Substack and he refused to take advantage of it because he finds Krugman impossible to listen to. I don't think that was a good decision, but I do understand his point.
Krugman's knowledge is extensive, and there are many millions of Americans who would benefit immensely if they read, watched, and listened to him. But his lack of polish as a speaker would be a drawback for people like my friend, who is not alone in finding Krugman inarticulate.
For the last 45 yrs the US has had a” gentleman’s” agreement with the Asian rim nations. We buy things from their export markets and in turn they subsidize it by buying our debt. I haven’t looked into total percentages but Japan and China are in the top 3 holders of Treasury bonds. Now we not only have one dishonest incompetent in charge but a whole administration of them this time. Even Bessent has drunk the Kool aid and spouts economic nonsense, and he should know better. All those countries would have to do is offload a lot of T bonds at once and the US would be in a heap o’ trouble. The inmates are in charge of the asylum.
As someone who is in the process of signing up for Medicare, I laughed out loud about the challenges you both described! There's gotta be an easier way to explain this stuff.
Choose traditional Medicare, plus plan G supplemental from any private insurer. Likewise any insurer for pharmacy benefits part D. Do not choose any Medicare advantage plan. Tiny networks compared to ~any provider in the country, and they’re a ripoff – both for the government, and to the extent they can get away with it for the insured. Done! 👍
3% of gdp for the military may be an amount we can manage in a $4 trillion economy. But we have been going to war, etc. over the last 20+ years with ghost budgets costing over $2 trillion. We embarked on a modernization of nuclear arsenal, without it ever being a policy debate in elections, at a cost of $1.7 trillion. https://fas.org/publication/nuclear-weapons-2024/.
Before we wander into the land of Trumps golden domes.
No one details in public discourse the waste & abuse of DOD and findings by GAO. Which is critical in an age of lying leadership who are literally stealing money from the working poor, children and disabled to give tax cuts to the richest narcissists our nation has ever produced.
Yes, I would respectfully disagree with Krugman’s mainstream-ish characterization of defense spending. Since Agent Orange is pulling back from NATO and Ukraine while browbeating them to increase their own defense spending, why do we need to increase our own defense budget by such a dramatic percentage? What is it for other than political patronage?
Let alone that the carrot offered to Europe, Japan, and others was coverage by the American nuclear umbrella in return for the stick of nuclear nonproliferation. If I were Japan and Germany, I would start ramping up my nuclear weapons program yesterday.
Defense spending is good for America so long as we aren’t at war. So Reagan’s defense spending spurred innovation and created solid union jobs while Bush’s defense spending was money flushed down the toilet. Reagan’s military jobs were easy jobs that didn’t require much work and ended with good pensions while Bush’s military jobs led to burnout and PTSD and weak pensions and entering the civilian workforce with no college degree. I knew an African American guy in the Navy in the 1980s and the job was a springboard for his family and all of his children going to college…his American children that is because the job was so easy he had wives overseas that his American wife didn’t know about. ;)
What about the proposal in Project 2025 that would merge investment banking and deposit banking? Has the administration tried to do this yet? It seems to be disastrous.
Excellent informative exchange between Krugman and Bernstein on key economic issues we face today due to Trump and pointing out that resistance to the incompetence and corruption of the Trump administration is not futile.
Krugman is great… just as everyone has already mentioned. The problem with the “interview” is that Bernstein’s ego runs rampant throughout. He just can’t keep his mouth shut!
Just so cool (to me) that Krugman had Charlie Kindleberger as a teacher. I do like that PK like CK is able to use simple (but not simplistic) stories to communicate core ideas without getting too wonky (though I enjoy that part too). Both also have a lot of humility for how intelligent they are. And they both write well. Respect!
John Kenneth G. was right and so are Paul and Jared. What is wrong is Trump and his minions.
You must work with the economic wheels and gears that you have, not what you wish you had.
Central control has always been a bad idea for the economy. You can nudge it this way and that and that is what the Fed has done and is doing so far. But Trump wants to put a wrench in the gears. It will turn out badly. I just wish that the American voters were better educated about history and economics.
To save time in future, Krugman should be introduced and his credibility established by noting his two most impressive characteristics in order of importance:
(1) He loves cats; and
(2) He has a Nobel Prize in economics.
You could even just say, “Cats; Nobel,” and jump right in.
Mr. Bernstein and Professor Krugman spoke of their lessened "fear" of Trump due to his increasing unpopularity. Unfortunately, unpopularity doesn't stop entrenched fascist or other authoritarian regimes from their destructive practices. The question is can Trump and his pals on the SCOTUS majority actually be stopped from achieving entrenched status for what Trump hopes will be the TrumpReich™. Unlike the hoped for 1,000 year reich, Trump just needs is to last while he's alive, since he doesn't care about anything but himself, his wealth, and his ability to order people around and hurt people he doesn't like. The greatest tool sane people have to fight Trump is Trump himself and his unfathomable stupidity and ignorance. In his second term, he has avoided appointing competent people to assist him and is relying on sycophants and toadies to do his bidding. Occasionally, it seems that some good advice seems to get through to Trump, as in his folding repeatedly on his Tariff war. It may be that Bessent has, behind the scenes, explained to Trump just how destructive his tariff war is and he or someone else has gotten Trump to go from being 500% insane down to 400%.
I've read and heard a number of comments by Professor Krugman concerning the competence of Bessent, the Treasury Secretary. Initially, the idea was that Bessent, unlike RFK Jr., Hegseth, Bondi, Patel, the insanely clueless Luttnick, and a list that is almost endless, is, or rather was not a complete incompetent idiot. Now, it no longer seems like incompetence is the problem, but rather it is an issue of corruption. His performance as Treasury Secretary has shown once again that when someone willingly enters Trump's universe, there are only two ways to go -- total corrupt subservience or resignation. Bessent has clearly chosen what would be humiliating acquiescence to anyone with a shred of integrity and decency. He is willing to tell one lie after another, distort whatever facts need to be twisted, and praise the "Fuehrer" for his sublime wisdom at every turn.
Personally, I don't understand the willingness of people to sell out completely, especially those who by some measure have achieved a level of success that sets them apart from most other Americans. Bessent's net worth seems to be somewhere between $500 million and $1.3 billion. What could possibly possess a person who is 62 years old, independently wealthy, and nearing retirement to trade his credibility and reputation for, at most, a few years of power that isn't even his own? The American system, for all its positive attributes, definitely creates unimaginable corruption. That corruption, while not limited to the Trump administration, is along with stupidity and incompetence, certainly a defining attribute.
Krugman is so damn smart
Not often we get to hear his brilliance combined with high level of humility
I can listen to him all day
It’s not the obvious smarts. Lots of economists (biologists, physicists, art historians, et al) have that.
He can communicate complex ideas without unnecessarily dumbing down. He’s a fine *writer.* He’s got a *voice*. He’s an essayist in the Orwell-Vidal tradition. One of a kind. You can’t fake that authenticity.
And that’s why I have raised a billion dollars and stolen all of Krugman’s copyrighted published work (and video appearances) to train my LLM, ChatPRK, which launches right after we sue Krugman for infringing on our IP.
😇
Thx Mary B
I think only wZy America gets out of this mess is to sponsor Krugman to be natl spokesman to speak to America why this economic moronic. Scary, selfish, disguised,immoral , illegal , unethical plan will be a brutal downturn in our economy and the outside world will laugh in our face.
Tariffs don’t work….ever. We tried it on Japanese cars, steel and other durable goods items and it all failed.
All countries Lise during trade wars as trade comes to screeching halt.
Krugma knows how to get the message out to people so they can understand how bad trump is….
After all, if the exporting country pays the tariff,why is he demanding Walmart not raise prices.wslmart must raise prices of profit growth will come down dramatically which of course will drag down shares and people who own it will get real pissed.
It’s simple…….walmart either raises prices or makes less money. It’s a binary outcome.
Nice video, but Jared needs to let his guest talk.
There are other comments like yours and I find them misguided.
I thought the balance was fine. Professor Krugman, for all his intelligence, can be remarkably inarticulate. It is rare that a sentence doesn't require two or more beginnings before he finally decides what he wants to say. I subscribe to his Substack (and Bernstein's), but I know more than one person who has turned Krugman off because of his rambling. Is this nitpicking? Yes and no. Years ago, Noam Chomsky, whom the NY Times called America's most important public intellectual, was asked why he didn't get some speaking instruction to make him more accessible. For those who have never heard Chomsky speak, he droned on endlessly in a scratchy monotone. He was a highly intelligent person with a wealth of knowledge, but he was almost impossible to listen to. The point was, Chomsky would have been more effective if his presentation wasn't deadening. Professor Krugman is not nearly as bad as Chomsky was, but the better speaker he is, the more people are likely to listen. Call it superficial if you want to, but that doesn't make it false.
Professor Krugman is better to read than to listen to, in my opinion. Recently, I watched a video of a prepared presentation he gave and it was significantly better than his extemporaneous speaking. I suspect that makes his class lectures more efficient than his spontaneous Substack discussions, otherwise I could imagine students struggling to maintain their attention. Recently, I sent a friend free one-month access to Krugman's Substack and he refused to take advantage of it because he finds Krugman impossible to listen to. I don't think that was a good decision, but I do understand his point.
Krugman's knowledge is extensive, and there are many millions of Americans who would benefit immensely if they read, watched, and listened to him. But his lack of polish as a speaker would be a drawback for people like my friend, who is not alone in finding Krugman inarticulate.
I recall Paul once said he disliked his lack of eloquence in public speaking.
Love to hear more Paul, less Jared.
For the last 45 yrs the US has had a” gentleman’s” agreement with the Asian rim nations. We buy things from their export markets and in turn they subsidize it by buying our debt. I haven’t looked into total percentages but Japan and China are in the top 3 holders of Treasury bonds. Now we not only have one dishonest incompetent in charge but a whole administration of them this time. Even Bessent has drunk the Kool aid and spouts economic nonsense, and he should know better. All those countries would have to do is offload a lot of T bonds at once and the US would be in a heap o’ trouble. The inmates are in charge of the asylum.
As someone who is in the process of signing up for Medicare, I laughed out loud about the challenges you both described! There's gotta be an easier way to explain this stuff.
Choose traditional Medicare, plus plan G supplemental from any private insurer. Likewise any insurer for pharmacy benefits part D. Do not choose any Medicare advantage plan. Tiny networks compared to ~any provider in the country, and they’re a ripoff – both for the government, and to the extent they can get away with it for the insured. Done! 👍
Thanks Steve! I got this same cheat code from my husband and friends. Maybe someone can put it to a snappy jingle?
Jared should decide if he wants a monologue or a guest.
3% of gdp for the military may be an amount we can manage in a $4 trillion economy. But we have been going to war, etc. over the last 20+ years with ghost budgets costing over $2 trillion. We embarked on a modernization of nuclear arsenal, without it ever being a policy debate in elections, at a cost of $1.7 trillion. https://fas.org/publication/nuclear-weapons-2024/.
Before we wander into the land of Trumps golden domes.
No one details in public discourse the waste & abuse of DOD and findings by GAO. Which is critical in an age of lying leadership who are literally stealing money from the working poor, children and disabled to give tax cuts to the richest narcissists our nation has ever produced.
Yes, I would respectfully disagree with Krugman’s mainstream-ish characterization of defense spending. Since Agent Orange is pulling back from NATO and Ukraine while browbeating them to increase their own defense spending, why do we need to increase our own defense budget by such a dramatic percentage? What is it for other than political patronage?
Let alone that the carrot offered to Europe, Japan, and others was coverage by the American nuclear umbrella in return for the stick of nuclear nonproliferation. If I were Japan and Germany, I would start ramping up my nuclear weapons program yesterday.
Defense spending is good for America so long as we aren’t at war. So Reagan’s defense spending spurred innovation and created solid union jobs while Bush’s defense spending was money flushed down the toilet. Reagan’s military jobs were easy jobs that didn’t require much work and ended with good pensions while Bush’s military jobs led to burnout and PTSD and weak pensions and entering the civilian workforce with no college degree. I knew an African American guy in the Navy in the 1980s and the job was a springboard for his family and all of his children going to college…his American children that is because the job was so easy he had wives overseas that his American wife didn’t know about. ;)
Britain and France have their own nuclear weapons, so Germany may be willing to rely on those for it's nuclear deterrent under the EU/NATO umbrella.
Where are the skilled journalists/economists to interview Paul Krugman?
What about the proposal in Project 2025 that would merge investment banking and deposit banking? Has the administration tried to do this yet? It seems to be disastrous.
Excellent informative exchange between Krugman and Bernstein on key economic issues we face today due to Trump and pointing out that resistance to the incompetence and corruption of the Trump administration is not futile.
Krugman is great… just as everyone has already mentioned. The problem with the “interview” is that Bernstein’s ego runs rampant throughout. He just can’t keep his mouth shut!
Just so cool (to me) that Krugman had Charlie Kindleberger as a teacher. I do like that PK like CK is able to use simple (but not simplistic) stories to communicate core ideas without getting too wonky (though I enjoy that part too). Both also have a lot of humility for how intelligent they are. And they both write well. Respect!
John Kenneth G. was right and so are Paul and Jared. What is wrong is Trump and his minions.
You must work with the economic wheels and gears that you have, not what you wish you had.
Central control has always been a bad idea for the economy. You can nudge it this way and that and that is what the Fed has done and is doing so far. But Trump wants to put a wrench in the gears. It will turn out badly. I just wish that the American voters were better educated about history and economics.
To save time in future, Krugman should be introduced and his credibility established by noting his two most impressive characteristics in order of importance:
(1) He loves cats; and
(2) He has a Nobel Prize in economics.
You could even just say, “Cats; Nobel,” and jump right in.
Mr. Bernstein and Professor Krugman spoke of their lessened "fear" of Trump due to his increasing unpopularity. Unfortunately, unpopularity doesn't stop entrenched fascist or other authoritarian regimes from their destructive practices. The question is can Trump and his pals on the SCOTUS majority actually be stopped from achieving entrenched status for what Trump hopes will be the TrumpReich™. Unlike the hoped for 1,000 year reich, Trump just needs is to last while he's alive, since he doesn't care about anything but himself, his wealth, and his ability to order people around and hurt people he doesn't like. The greatest tool sane people have to fight Trump is Trump himself and his unfathomable stupidity and ignorance. In his second term, he has avoided appointing competent people to assist him and is relying on sycophants and toadies to do his bidding. Occasionally, it seems that some good advice seems to get through to Trump, as in his folding repeatedly on his Tariff war. It may be that Bessent has, behind the scenes, explained to Trump just how destructive his tariff war is and he or someone else has gotten Trump to go from being 500% insane down to 400%.
I've read and heard a number of comments by Professor Krugman concerning the competence of Bessent, the Treasury Secretary. Initially, the idea was that Bessent, unlike RFK Jr., Hegseth, Bondi, Patel, the insanely clueless Luttnick, and a list that is almost endless, is, or rather was not a complete incompetent idiot. Now, it no longer seems like incompetence is the problem, but rather it is an issue of corruption. His performance as Treasury Secretary has shown once again that when someone willingly enters Trump's universe, there are only two ways to go -- total corrupt subservience or resignation. Bessent has clearly chosen what would be humiliating acquiescence to anyone with a shred of integrity and decency. He is willing to tell one lie after another, distort whatever facts need to be twisted, and praise the "Fuehrer" for his sublime wisdom at every turn.
Personally, I don't understand the willingness of people to sell out completely, especially those who by some measure have achieved a level of success that sets them apart from most other Americans. Bessent's net worth seems to be somewhere between $500 million and $1.3 billion. What could possibly possess a person who is 62 years old, independently wealthy, and nearing retirement to trade his credibility and reputation for, at most, a few years of power that isn't even his own? The American system, for all its positive attributes, definitely creates unimaginable corruption. That corruption, while not limited to the Trump administration, is along with stupidity and incompetence, certainly a defining attribute.
"Resistance is useless" or maybe not.
In "The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy" the Vogon guard had this repetitive chant, followed later by Star Trek and "Resistance is futile."
Come to think about it, Trump's meandering press conferences are probably at least as painful as Vogon poetry.
Maybe I would not mind being thrown off that ship, if I had to cover the White House as a journalist. How do they tolerate it?
Painful, I'm sure. I mean, I can always turn off the volume when I have reached my tolerance level.
Also, thanks for the discussion, it was enjoyable.