Paul Krugman: If the GOP doesn't abandon its "superpower delusion," the U.S. is doomed

Apparently America shouldn't intervene willy-nilly in world affairs

Published March 28, 2016 12:10PM (EDT)

                      (Reuters/Tim Shaffer)
(Reuters/Tim Shaffer)

In his Monday New York Times column, Paul Krugman bemoaned the Republican "superpower delusion," that "belief that America could dictate events throughout the world" willy-nilly.

The delusion's most "spectacular" demonstration was, of course, "the debacle in Iraq," but it manifests itself in all aspects of GOP policy-making, even matters as seemingly innocuous as protecting American workers from international competition. Or, as Krugman put it,

Serious economic analysis has never supported the Panglossian view of trade as win-win for everyone that is popular in elite circles: growing trade can indeed hurt many people, and for the past few decades globalization has probably been, on net, a depressing force for the majority of U.S. workers.

But protectionism isn’t the only way to fight that downward pressure...

Read the rest at the New York Times...


By Scott Eric Kaufman

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Related Topics ------------------------------------------

2016 Gop Primary Business Donald Trump Elections 2016 European Union George W. Bush Paul Krugman Trade