Paul Krugman: What's wrong with the GOP elite? Only its devotion to Ayn Rand and, well, everything else

Their love of Ted Cruz is as commonsensical as their obsession with gold

Published March 25, 2016 12:18PM (EDT)

Paul Krugman                              (Reuters/Brendan Mcdermid)
Paul Krugman (Reuters/Brendan Mcdermid)

In his Friday New York Times column, Paul Krugman cut up the Republican party for embracing a monetary policy that not even the conservative economists at the University of Chicago can get behind.

Texas Senator and perpetual place-horse Ted Cruz espouses what is, according to Krugman, "very much a fringe position among economists," not a single one of whom answered, when questioned, that the world would be improved if the United States still adhered to the gold standard. Dangerous as a Cruz presidency would be, however, Krugman pointed out that the current Speaker of the House is already plenty capable of destroying the American economy.

"As I have pointed out on a number of occasions, Mr. [Paul] Ryan is fundamentally a con man on his signature issue, fiscal policy," Krugman argued, adding

[W]hat, exactly, is the nature of his monetary faith? The same as the nature of Mr. Cruz’s beliefs: Both men are devotees of Ayn Rand, even if Mr. Ryan now tries to downplay his well-documented Rand fandom...

Read the rest at the New York Times...


By Scott Eric Kaufman

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2016 Gop Primary Business Elections 2016 Paul Krugman Ted Cruz The Economy