Paul Krugman Talks Trump and the Economy

CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR: So can you explain to me why given the strength of the economy, maybe it’s because of what you’re saying right now, the President by and

large isn’t using it as a midterm campaign sort of slogan and that as another analyst said, the fact of a strong economy and the President’s

hovering ratings around 40 percent shouldn’t exist at the same time, it shouldn’t exist in the same sentence.

PAUL KRUGMAN: Okay, two things. One is that he political scientists tell us that midterm elections are surprisingly not driven by the economy.

Remember, probably the best year of the Bush economy was 2006, which was also the year the Democrats took the House and the Senate. Other things

dominated, as they tend to in midterm elections.

The other thing is that the benefits of — the GDP number looks fine. Wages are down, adjusted for inflation. People are not feeling it. People

are not saying, “Gee, this is great. This is wonderful.” People are saying, “I’m still having trouble making ends meet,” and they have a sense,

correctly, that the tax cut was for a few rich people and corporations and not for them.

AMANPOUR: Can I ask you, because you’ve become a really popular and very prominent political columnist and rather economic columnist but also about

political and social affairs and you have one amazing sort of conversation with Stephen Colbert on a roller coaster a few years ago.

KRUGMAN: Yes.

AMANPOUR: But, finally, it was said that you weren’t always politically obsessive, but you were obsessive about the difference between stupid and

smart.

KRUGMAN: Oh, boy.

AMANPOUR: What has changed?

KRUGMAN: I mean, what happened? Look, the US politics has changed. A lot of the world has changed, but the fact of the matter is that one of our two

great political parties is all about selling policies that benefit a few people by exploiting stuff like racial antagonism, but also by saying

things that aren’t true.

I’m not saying that all Democrats are honest as the day is long. But here is the complete dishonesty. I’m sorry, I don’t want to be partisan, but

you have to be. Everything that one party has said about fundamental economic policy for the past 15 years has been not true. And that kind of

— you have got to say that.

AMANPOUR: And you do, loudly.