After nearly a quarter century, Nobel Prize-winning economist Paul Krugman has decided to wrap up his opinion column in the New York Times. In his final column, Krugman reflects on what has changed over the past 25 years, noting that a major shift has occurred from optimism and high satisfaction to a sense of unease and distrust.
Krugman attributes this change to a collapse of trust in elites, with the public losing faith that those in power know what they’re doing or are being honest. This distrust extends beyond the government to banks and even wealthy tech pioneers like Elon Musk. In fact, Krugman notes that some of the most resentful people in America today are angry billionaires who once basked in public approval but are now finding that all their wealth cannot buy them love.
To escape this “grim place,” Krugman does not think Americans will be fooled forever by elites making empty promises. While resentment can put bad people in power, it cannot keep them there in the long run. By rebuffing the emerging “kakistocracy,” he believes that people may eventually find their way back to a better world.
In his final column, Krugman concludes that Americans have lost faith in the country’s leaders and institutions, and that a change in direction is needed to recover from the current state of affairs.