In a recent CNN interview, Paul Krugman of The New York Times finds it hard to understand why ordinary American voters do not share his euphoric view of U.S. President Joe Biden’s goldilocks economy — which appears to be neither hot nor cold.
Inflation is falling, unemployment remains low, the economy is growing and stock market valuations are high. So why, Krugman asks, do voters give Biden’s economy a lousy 36% approval rating?
Journalist Glenn Greenwald sees class bias in Krugman’s wonderment: as though Krugman were just another pampered rentier with ample cash, real estate, stocks and bonds. But this is most unfair. Though I have not been to Krugman’s home, I have seen his ultramodest office at the City University of New York. He has certainly done well, but I suspect his plebeian tastes have changed little since his junior faculty days at Yale, when I was a graduate student there.