Paul Krugman

How the hell is this moron still relevant?

This isn’t advanced shit, this is basic.

That is pretty stupid. I’m not rich but I’m hedged against increased oil prices because I get dividends from oil stocks, a low income person can’t do that.

Simple math shows it.

I think people forget as you make more, not all your expenses go up. As such you have more free cash.

Poor people spend more of their income covering living cost.

I could argue that as you make more, some of your expenses go down. Rewards cards come to mind, I use points to pay for flights I’d otherwise have to spend money on. And mortgages, I have a 2.5% mortgage. Can low income people gets rewards cards and the lowest mortgage rates?

That is almost certainly true.
I could probably list 10-25 major things without even trying.

Krugman has always been a hack. If Trump of another Republican were president now he be would be railing about how inflation hurts the poor.

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I think that’s fair. The examples I’ve always heard is the poor can’t use Costco and they use dollar stores. Dollar stores charge more per x than other stores.

From what I have read, that also seems to be the opinion of a lot of other economists.

At a certain level, the poor don’t have washing machines, they have to use the laundromat. Which is, by scale, very expensive.

I rarely use laundry mats. I have to use one this weekend.

Washing was 7 dollars. Drying was a dollar.

So 8 dollars a load

What opinion have you read from other economists? That inflation hurts the poor, or that Krugman is a hack?

Yep, I had to use one a couple of years ago while waiting for ours to be delivered.
You could buy a used set for about what it would take to do 3 weeks of laundry.

More from Krugman on the subject:

The issue is often they don’t have hookups.

That Krugman lets his political biases affect his economic analyses.

Krugman is the quintessential economist whose business is to rationalize what politicians want to do anyway. Usually that is to spend bucket loads of money.

Yes, if they have a decent credit score.

My landlord buddy buys used appliances in good condition for his rentals, he finds some great deals.

The illegitimate propaganda cartel – known to some as the “news media” – keeps publishing him. That’s how.

Also, people on forums call attention to his drivel by posting it.

Otherwise nobody would give a shit.

So do I. Average $175 to $200 for stoves and refrigerators. But not fancy ones.