306 Comments

Paul Krugman you've been liberated and I found this "wonk out" so informative. Thank you.

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And “Canada has poutine”. LOL. Thank you Paul.

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Québec has poutine. The rest of Canada (ROC) try but can't do it.

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The wild wet coast has everything and more but please don’t come here. You won’t like it. Take all the way off! Ya hosers.

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Seriously, I've had poutine in Québec and in Des Moines. Good in both places.

It ain't all that hard to make. Or to savor.

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It's very difficult to make if you don't have the proper squeaky fromage en grains. I have seen Americans and Europeans substitute mozarella, and it doesn't work.

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Much like pizza and chili, there are no hard and fast rules for making poutine. I can tell you, though, I’ve had the good fortune of never encountering mozzarella in my restaurant ordered poutine, ha!

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I believe that Poutine is the French spelling of Putin, so as to avoid pronouncing it like their word "putain", which is actually more appropriate.

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I had to look it up.....bashing Canada and I am still laughing.

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Gosh, professor. What have you done? I hope you are not putting the "poutine" into Trump's head to hasten the invasion of Canada. I am sure he will confuse poutine with Putin and the adjective savvy, that he used to describe Putin, with gravy. Let him stay with his favorites: McDonald quarter pounder and french fries. Also (1) Please do not mention in your newsletter about uranium which will make him use national security as the reason. (2) Export of trumpism to Canada to balance the trade.

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I love poutine!

But be careful, it can fill you up!

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Strategy from Trump? That’s dark comedy. His only strategy is remaining #1 in world headlines, and our country certainly bends over to assist him in his lofty goal. I canceled all my newspaper subscriptions, including the NYT, and am very happy to see you here. Thank you.

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Me too! Paul Krugman was the only thing I was going to miss about the NYT after 40 years of subscribing and now he's on Substack! Yay!

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My hope is that cognizant journalists like Krugman and Rubin amass other, younger journos to electronically rival and supplant the old, previously reliable news outlets like WaPo and the NYT. When those rags took a knee, that was it for me.

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Yes, but investigative journalism is expensive. Probably not supportable in substack. I don’t know a solution, but it’s worrisome.

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A solution? Propublica

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Yes, thanks. Will sign up.

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"...a growing sense that he’s being overshadowed by President non-elect Elon Musk".

Bingo! You just filled your card, Dr Krugman! One narcissist brutally "trumping" his senile narcissist rival, and it's no contest - Elno for the win!

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👍👍👍❤️❤️❤️ Smart person!

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So happy you’re here Paul! Substack has liberated you from editorial tyranny! Incisive analysis.

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Imitation is the highest form of flattery. For at least two decades Donald has been in total admiration of Vladimir Putin, proclaiming him to be a leader to be emulated. Putin has declared that Ukraine is really part of Russia. Soon he will be laying territorial claims to all of the free nations of Eastern Europe, like Estonia, Latvia, and the Czech Republic, as also being part of the Russian national territory. So it should come as no surprise that Donald is doing his best to imitate his political BFF by laying claim to Greenland as well as Canada (which Donald calls the 51st state of the US) and the Panama Canal (whose sovereignty was transferred to the nation of Panama by signed treaty nearly fifty years ago). As always with Donald, he is spending all of his time keeping up with the other world dictators, like Putin, like Kim Jung Un of North Korea, like President Xi of China, like Urban of Hungary. Hey, while he's at it, why doesn't Donald claim the Moon as being a US territory? Our astronauts landed their first and, yes, they did plant the American flag on the moon, and the images of that planted flag were broadcast around the world. So why not claim the Moon as a US territory?

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It’s beyond pathetic that Trump and his fellow MAGAts bow down to the pathetic Putin. Trump will soon be the leader of the country with world’s strongest economy and most powerful military. Too bad no one tells him this.

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Butbutbut Putin has more money than Trump, and Trump,status-seeker that he is, will always bow down to that, while secretly plotting to outdo him & taking notes on how he did it.

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I suspect his dementia and lack of literacy would rule out strategic note-taking.

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Why stop at the Moon? Trump's boss, Elmo, wants to colonize Mars.

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That would be great! Send all the corrupt oligarchs and their toady pold to colonize Mars by advertising it as the most exclusive resort Ever.

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pols

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Maybe. Or maybe he read ‘The Marching Morons’ and he’s planning to ship them all . . . partway there . . . b.rad

<https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Marching_Morons>

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Thanks for introducing me to the Hayde Bluegrass Orchestra!

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“I’ve seen various attempts to rationalize Trump’s sudden embrace of what looks like old-fashioned imperialism. A Panamanian hotel has sued the Trump Organization for what it says is tax evasion; Greenland has deposits of rare earths; Canada has poutine. But I think that all of this ascribes too much rationality to Trump’s posturing. I mean, does this sound like someone engaged in sophisticated geopolitics? (No, Chinese soldiers aren’t operating the canal.)”

It’s all smoke and mirrors. Trump has need to look good, be loved, and make the world bend a knee; not realizing in reality, all our adversaries are happy to oblige; since the dealmaker of the century, is really just a cheap, snake oil salesman, who couldn’t even find the ocean, if he were standing on the beach!

Here are some ports in America which the Chinese operate, in addition to having control of the Panama Canal:

Port of Los Angeles.

Port of Long Beach.

Port of New York and New Jersey.

Port of Seattle.

Port of Virginia.

Port of South Carolina.

Port of Houston.

And like TikTok, our adversaries know he is easily bought with the right praise, and his piece of the action. Isn’t he building a new Trump Tower in Saudi Arabia? Get ready for Trump International World Tower & Resorts in Beijing or Macao!

That said, I agree, It’s all bluster. Trump is all Pomp and No Circumstance! He has no plan, so expect the next few years to be an expanding economy based on a “Meme” stock market; before its inevitable collapse! Stocks will be trading like GameStop and Trump Media and Technology Group (DJT). It won’t be based on any financial data or sound investment opportunities; it will be whether the CEO of a company is “NICE” enough to Trump, and pledged undying fealty!

So make your money quick; before the music stops, and you’re left without a chair. I give our economy two years before we suffer an economic calamity, in the scale of the Great Depression!

And this time the Fed won’t have any tools left in the toolbox to head off a disaster, which could have been avoided had cooler heads prevailed; Harris was elected, instead of Trump! IMHO!…:)

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Has anyone forgotten that Trump doesn’t have a rational thought in his head. It remains empty until the monsters write something in big primary printing that he can then struggle ro read off the teleprompter . I think if he were asked five minutes later what he just said, he wouldn’t be able to do it.

Why has his reading posture (bent neck, jaw thrusting forward, clinging for dear life to the podium.) never addressed ? He reads words one at a time, with no understanding of content. He is truly a pathetic human.

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He is a man with advancing dementia

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Don’t forget the cryptocurrency reserve.

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Not going to get into the somewhat irrational rantings, but am compelled to point out that the Charleston, SC port is not, repeat not, operated by Chinese. It is governed by a board some of whom are appointed by the Governor - none by the Chinese. I've known the Chairman for over forty years, he is a native South Carolinian of Jewish decent. I think some of the cranes in use there as is true in most US ports. They are operated by local workers and one of the terminals is operated by union workers - they are not Chinese. I can't speak for the other ports, but my guess is you are wrong about them also as the unions would be throwing a fit.

One other comment. Several presidents have discussed acquiring Greenland. It's strategic importance is now increased due to global warming opening up the arctic. Those discussions have always been about buying it - not invading it. Purchasing something is not s imperialism. Lot's of people ridiculed purchasing Alaska - Seward's Folly. I suspect we are all happy Russia does not own it now.

You make some interesting points but blatant inaccuracies detract from them.

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Fair enough, but understand I’m not saying the Chinese government; that was the misinformation from Trump. I’m saying like the Panama Canal, is operated by a Chinese company, no different from a US company getting the contract to operate a port.

It doesn’t mean they own or oversea the management of the Port itself. The Panama Canal has The Panama Canal Authority. (government agency). We have a NY/NJ Port Authority (government agency) for example. However, both have private companies operating the port logistics and unloading and loading of ships.

That’s my point! I’m not trying to mislead….:)

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In their 1988 study of the economics of British imperialism, Mammon and the Pursuit of Empire, Lance Davis and Robert Huttenback conclude that British "imperialism can best be viewed as a

mechanism for transferring income from the middle to the upper classes". The British middle class paid most of the taxes to support the military and administrative structure of the empire, while the upper classes enjoyed higher rates of return on investments abroad than would otherwise have been available to them. The result, "socialism for the rich, capitalism for the poor", makes sense for the rich, who were making the policy.

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I'm also thinking of how the 19th-century Scottish economist James Mill described the British Empire as "a vast system of outdoor relief for the upper classes".

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Do note that King Phillip has subtly played Shenanigans with power of the people and government real estate property so that it falls under his family for generations. Essentially he is doing what Putin has done and what Trump aspires to do

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Someone needs to tell Trump how many minerals and how much wealth is in Siberia. Let him go after that!

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And the Congo. A fine place for a war.

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Rather than annexing more land, we need more younger citizens. As an early boomer retiree, I realize we need more people making decent money to support our economy. How to get more citizens? Not by forcing women to make more babies. Let’s invite them: “Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free.”

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the incoming fool and company want to deport the tax paying working mass that pay into but can never receive their social security because of their undocumented status...

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We are the greatest power in the world, with the most effective military and a large nuclear arsenal as well as the dominant economy. What we do matters in the world, and we have a responsibility that comes with this awesome power. (As someone who studies France and Europe generally, I'm very much aware of how much these countries focus on our elections.) Yet foreign policy almost never enters into our presidential debates, making way for "kitchen. table" issues; worse still, Trump's tariffs, if they go into effect, will make prices go up. All Trump has talked about since the election, it seems, is countries he wants to seize, as well as sitting down with Putin (absent Zelensky) to discuss the future of Ukraine. We as a country don't realize how much this "willed ignorance" of anything outside our borders is hurting us.

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The media rarely puts a spotlight on foreign affairs except in a few instances like the war in Gaza.

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Well said, Jill. What has happened within our borders may ba larger threat. Our education system has been structured for failure. Keep the populace ignorant. Empty their hearts along with their heads, and fill them instead with what to think, . .or how not to know.

The populace has not been called “Sheep” for nothing.

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One question I have after reading this (mostly after reading the Farrell article that's linked) is: Given that Trump is obsessed about maintaining the dominance of the Dollar, why is he so interested in promoting crypto? Per Farrell, the stated goal of the founders of crypto is to replace the dollar. My guess: Trump is now in the crypto business and so promoting the interests of the crypto market is to his financial benefit. Morever, he's not smart enough to understand all of the problems with crypto.

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Putin's viceroy is obsessed with increasing his own wealth. If crypto will do it then he will back it. Remember Musk is already big in crypto, and ,for now, is a main advisor.

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Greed and grift. The motivation for most of his “strategies.”

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He also has co-President Elect Musk whispering in his ear, "crypto, crypto, crypto" , along with many other sweet nothings.

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He thinks having a crypto currency reserve will help prop up the dollar. Sort of like gold reserves.

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Ok, makes some sense. Although, of course, gold has a couple thousand year history of being treated as a valuable commodity, while crypto....

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The crypto industry thing is interesting to me too. Do you think the Fed will eventually create a US digital currency?

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The US Dollar IS a digital currency; crypto is not a currency at all, it is a collectible.

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The Fed's digital currency concept is really just allowing anyone to have an account at the Fed (the proposal appears to be that your account would go through your bank). That would allow simple transfer of funds from one person to another. It would also simplify things like the occasional tax rebate.

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President Speedfreak & his Grand Vizier Captain Ketamine, egos boosted by their awesome access to power. What could possibly go wrong? Reminds me of the poem Ozymandius.

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American soft power would have gotten better deals and more access than any of the mafia asshole tactics the mafia asshole is trying.

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Very true. Unfortunately Trump would rather take $10 from your wallet then work out an agreement that will pay him $100 more than you every month

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But Biden age and Hillary’s emails are the real disqualifiers in mainstream media land..

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trump and his band of clowns make America look foolish, unreliable, and stupid. I am surprised he hasn't mentioned taking over Bahamas because of the beaches and the great potential resport locations he could build. His disregard for Canada, or is it simply Trudeau, is remarkable and disturbingly dystopian. trump is an embarrassment to America and his ill-will, arrogance, and bloviating outbursts will force allies to reconsider sharing anything of value with the US. Who is going to share sensitive information with lunatic? Hopefully, as you mentioned, this round of stupidity is simply trying to cover up his other stupidity of his cabinet nominees.

Joe Biden could bring world peace and the media would say, the world peace announcement wasn't as emotional as it could have been and he did stutter once. Sadly, I can see legacy, corporate media acting like a new puppy, waging its tail and excitedly wondering, where are you taking me next...

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