Nobel Prize-winning economist and New York Times Opinion columnist Paul KrugmanNeilson Barnard/Getty Images
Paul Krugman, the Nobel Prize winning economist and New York Times columnist, once again took to Twitter on Monday to express his discontent with the future Donald Trump administration.
In a series of tweets, Krugman decried the possibility of corruption within the future Trump administration, particularly in regards to Trump’s massive proposed infrastructure plan and foreign policy.
“We’re about to enter, or may already have entered, an era of corrupt governance unprecedented in US history,” Krugman tweeted Monday.
Krugman suggested he believes that the public-private coinvestment strategy of Trump’s proposed $550 billion infrastructure package would allow the president-elect to give favorable contracts to associates or even his own companies. Krugman said Trump’s family could take $10 billion “skimmed off the top” without anyone noticing.
“Expect to see lots of privatization and a general shift from transparent to murky so that favors can be traded,” Krugman said.
Trump has already spurred questions with his business dealings and his family as he transitions into the presidency. Presidents typically put their private business interests in a blind trust during their term, and Trump has said that his business interests will be shifted to his children.
Yet Ivanka Trump sat in on a meeting last week with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, which critics have claimed is a conflict of interest.
Additionally, Krugman claimed that the president-elect’s foreign policy will be titled toward authoritarian governments that can trade favors with Trump.
“And think about the pro-tyrant bias of foreign policy,” Krugman tweeted.
“Democratic regimes — say, in Europe — are by their own rules unable to offer de-facto personal bribes to the US president,” he continued. “Putin’s Russia or, for that matter, Xi’s China, will be fine with sending huge business to the profiteer-in-chief. And that will cause a tilt of US policy toward authoritarian regimes.”
Krugman has taken to Twitter frequently since Trump was elected to express concerns over various parts of a Trump presidency.
Krugman concluded Monday’s tirade by telling people to “stay alert.”
Here’s the entire tweetstorm:
We’re about to enter, or may already have entered, an era of corrupt governance unprecedented in U.S. history. What does it mean? 1/
— Paul Krugman (@paulkrugman) November 21, 2016
Important to realize that the money stolen by the first family is a minor issue; $10 billion, say, skimmed off the top is rounding error 2/
— Paul Krugman (@paulkrugman) November 21, 2016
What matters much more is the distortion of policy in directions that can be monetized. Gratuitous private investors in infrastructure 3/
— Paul Krugman (@paulkrugman) November 21, 2016
is just the start. Expect to see lots of privatization and a general shift from transparent to murky so that favors can be traded 4/
— Paul Krugman (@paulkrugman) November 21, 2016
And think about the pro-tyrant bias of foreign policy. Democratic regimes — say, in Europe — are by their own rules unable to offer 5/
— Paul Krugman (@paulkrugman) November 21, 2016
de facto personal bribes to the U.S. president. Putin’s Russia or, for that matter, Xi’s China, will be fine with sending huge business 6/
— Paul Krugman (@paulkrugman) November 21, 2016
to the profiteer-in-chief. And that will cause a tilt of U.S. policy toward authoritarian regimes. Stay alert 7/
— Paul Krugman (@paulkrugman) November 21, 2016
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