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When You’re So Out of Touch
You Don’t Even Know You’re Out of Touch
Paul Krugman went on a snippy little Twitter rant the other day. (In case you forgot, Paul Krugman is the NY Times columnist and Nobel-prize-winning economist who predicted the stock market would crash on Trump’s election and never recover. Within a week, it hit record highs.) He was just gob-smacked that some people are saying elite New York Times columnists are out of touch with the rest of America.
A lot of people seem to be settling on the narrative that Trumpism reflects a backlash against the arrogance of liberal elites. Really?
Yes, in no way should Trump’s victory over the favored candidate of the political and media class be seen as a case of millions of Americans turning on the political and media class who have been running the country.
Also, how can you say that liberals, who worried about wage stagnation etc. don’t care about workers? IN terms of policy, liberals have been on white working class’s side, much more than the election victors.
Why, we’re the ones who brought you Obamacare, the $15 minimum wage, the War on Coal, and all those third world migrants crowding your schools. (Not a lot of Somalian refugees at Sidwell Friends.)
The answer seems in part to be that liberals haven’t been willing to promise to bring the coal etc. jobs back because they cannot, in fact, be brought back — but insisting on being realistic is perceived as elitist, arrogant, and uncaring
Actually, the answer lies in liberal policies of over-regulation, cronyist central planning, and massive third-world immigration have been killing jobs in the first place; including coal jobs. “Hey, we killed your manufacturing job, but we will retrain you to wait tables at Buffalo Wild Wings. Because we care.”
Plus there’s the sense that liberals don’t respect the culture of the WWC. What’s odd is that I don’t see anything like the blatant way conservatives denounce “New York values”, or declare that large parts of the country aren’t the “real America”. Sure you can find some dismissive remarks about flyover country or something — but never in political discourse, from actual politicians. So what is it?
You don’t see it? Well, I’m pretty sure fish don’t see water, either. As far as not hearing it from “actual politicians,” refer to… “And it’s not surprising then they get bitter, they cling to guns or religion or antipathy toward people who aren’t like them or anti-immigrant sentiment or anti-trade sentiment as a way to explain their frustrations.” Or, does that not count?
One answer is anti-intellectualism — the very act of trying to figure out how to solve problems makes some see you as arrogant.Another answer — which you know is partly true — is anger that liberal elites don’t respect ordinary folks’ prejudice.
In other words, “At the end of the day, people who don’t agree with liberals are stupid bigots.”
Yeah, Trump’s election will forever be a mystery to Paul Krugman and his ilk.
Published in Domestic Policy
Something of a shame after a fashion. If you go back a couple of decades he was actually a rather interesting economist.
Damn shame he tossed that all aside in order to become a hack.
Excellent!
SOK= same ol’ krugman
James Taranto always refers to him as former Enron advisor Paul Krugman. We really shouldn’t leave that out.
Appears Krugman and his ilk think they own Vegas as it were and one credentialed refuse to accept the fluidity of occurrences in the real world as it happens around them. While he enjoys lofty insulation, the man is no more that a Carpet Bagger of old. Many others in media and the current administration fall into the same category.
The problem that liberal/socialists have, is that the media and pop culture reinforces their bubble. There are so many who go through live never realizing their are people who disagree with them. (not just talking heads on tv)
Conservatives have much less of a danger of this, because our values, interests and ideas are attacked from every quarter every waking moment of our lives.
IF they really want to understand the other America, they should get in a car in LA, point it east, and drive to the Atlantic. (Jacksonville FL?) if they just looked out the window as they drove by all the closed shops, or talked to people at diners. I think they’ll begin to understand that the coasts have been coasting while the middle of the country has been suffering.
Best to think of these essays as rationalizations and reinforcement of the elites’ existing positions. People who read this are seeking a rationale that allows them to continue down the same road. Let them. It’s a dead end.
By now, anyone seriously reading the NYT editorial page Brooks, Krugman Dowd, Gail Collins, et al, seek solace, not perspective.
Why does he only stop with statements from “actual politicians?” What about the social justice warrior brigades in advocacy, academia, entertainment, and media who do nothing but prepend “rasict sexist homophobic cisgendered” in front of everything they don’t like that the other half of the country believes in and simply wants to be left alone about?
Krugman’s gotta Krugman.
Too bad the columnists in our thinkeries and journals of opinion have only marginally less contempt, condescension and dismissiveness towards Trump voters.
For all his dripping elitist contempt, Krugman has at least proposed policies (almost all misguided) which were more decent than “MOVE”,which really delighted the conservative thinkerers this year.
I like your new word.
Neologism is an art form. You get today’s prize for thinkerers. If you protract the word for a bit it sounds like a Model T that won’t start. Perfect.
I never read Krugman anymore as I maintain some respect for my brain pan, but was able to read this post only because of the inserted Fisks.
Thanks!
Basically he is saying- ‘You are too stoopid to know what’s best so this election validates my point!’
The problem with the Krugman’s of this world is that they underestimate pride as a motivating force. People don’t want just an improved economic position, they want to be proud of their economic position. Which means they want a job with a good wage because they are worth a good job with a good wage, not a $15 wage because some bureaucrat says that is what they need to be paid.
Also going along with the pride angle, Trump promised people that they would be proud of their country again, and that they wouldn’t be continually derided for their traditional values.
Good point. It’s also a problem with a lot of libertarians and Republicans.
I usually use the word status, as in socio-economic status. But that’s closely related to pride.
I’ll keep your way of saying it in mind. Thanks.
Very nice fisking of former Enron advisor, Paul Krugman.
Does anyone else remember when—I’m pretty sure I’m right—National Review had a weekly box column called Krugman’s Korner or something like that, where they picked apart all the inconsistencies and outright falsehoods in that week’s Krugman column. Of course, this was back in the days when Krugman was considered somewhat relevant…for some reason…
‘Member? Oh, yeah, I ‘member. Oh! Oh! ‘member tauntauns?
Nice!
This is the core of the matter. And this is why all the white liberals in my Facebook feed (including some close family members) had to publicly “rend their garments” on Facebook when Trump won the election. They had to ensure that no one thought they were one of those stupid bigots.
Ugh! I had to “unfollow” several white liberal friends because I couldn’t take the “rending of garments.” Excellent description of their rants!
One of the blogs I read (www.cafehayek.com) will occasionally run “Krugman v. Krugman” posts, where Paul Krugman’s statements as a New York Times columnist are juxtaposed with condtradictory things he wrote in his economics textbook.
“…never in political discourse from actual politicians.”??? Start with Obama and “bitter clingers” and end with Cuomo’s comments on pro-life and 2A supporters.
Do not understand how Krugman remains relevant at all other than as a foil for James Taranto.
Krugman is the Charles Manson of Economics. Maybe he was once working on some cool songs with the beach boys, now he is just convincing people to smear blood on the walls.
No, people see you as arrogant for your unshakeable belief that not only are your ‘answers’ to those problems the only right ones, but that everyone who disagrees with you is a evil fool.
Am I the only one who remembers that the bitter clingers were Hillary 2008 voters?
To Quote:
Yes, He said this during the Primaries (April 2008) but he slanted the slur at people living in small towns. When I heard it back in the day, I thought he was talking about republicans, because democrats have lost their religion, and never owned a gun. These are the terms of endearment that they have for republicans.