Krugman Spots the New Inflationists in the Age of Trump

Paul Krugman

The New York Times columnist P. Krugman is correct when he comments on the new inflationists in the Age of Trump.

In an essay titled, "Hard-Money Men, Suddenly Going Soft: Trumpism trumps everything, even Ayn Rand," he writes:

I have a confession to make: I have been insufficiently cynical about modern conservative economics...

I took its monetary hawkishness seriously...

It’s no surprise that Individual-1, who lambasted the Fed for keeping interest rates low while Barack Obama was president, is demanding that it keep rates low now that he’s in the White House. After all, nobody has ever accused Donald Trump of having consistent, principled views about monetary policy (or anything else).

But it is a shock to see so many conservative voices — including, incredibly, the editorial page of The Wall Street Journal — echoing Trump’s demands.

It’s hard to overstate just how consistent and intense The Journal and others of like mind used to be in their attacks on easy money...

I never believed that Paul Ryan really cared about the deficit, but I did believe his assertion that his views on monetary policy were derived from the denunciation of paper money as a form of looting in Ayn Rand’s “Atlas Shrugged.”...

Trumpism, it turns out, trumps everything else — even Ayn Rand.

Krugman is correct. Trumpism has flushed out the supposed hard-money conservatives who actually always have been in the closest Krugmanite inflationists who just like Trump don't understand a damn thing about how money works in an economy.

-RW