Politics determines who has the power, not who has the truth.
Paul KrugmanRead
Wealthy individuals bought themselves a radical right party, believing - correctly - that it would cut their taxes and remove regulations, but failed to realize that eventually the craziness would take on a life of its own, and that the monster they created would turn on its creators as well as the little people.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Wealthy individuals underestimated the consequences of their political choices, resulting in negative outcomes for themselves and society.
This quote by Paul Krugman reflects on the actions of wealthy individuals who supported a radical political party with the intention of benefiting their financial interests. However, they did not foresee that the extreme ideologies and actions of this party would ultimately lead to repercussions that would also affect them, highlighting the dangers of creating a political 'monster' that can spiral out of control.
Themes
WealthPoliticsConsequencesRadicalismTaxes
In practice
Example use cases
This quote can be used in discussions about economic policies to illustrate the unintended consequences of political choices.
More from Paul Krugman
All quotes →Our popular economics writers, however, are not in the business of giving their readers a ringside seat on the research action; with no exception I can think of, they use their books to do an end run around the normal structure of scholarship, to preach ideas that few serious economists share. Often, these ideas are not just at odds with the professional consensus; they are demonstrably wrong, and sometimes terminally silly. But they sound good to the unwary reader.
Paul KrugmanRead
The raw fact is that every successful example of economic development this past century ... has taken place via globalization.
Paul KrugmanRead
Wealthy Americans who benefit hugely from a system rigged in their favor react with hysteria to anyone who points out just how rigged the system is.
Paul KrugmanRead
It’s not about the budget; it’s about the power...So will the attack on unions succeed? I don’t know. But anyone who cares about retaining government of the people by the people should hope that it doesn’t.
Paul KrugmanRead
The economics profession went astray because economists, as a group, mistook beauty, clad in impressive-looking mathematics, for truth.
Paul KrugmanRead
Similar quotes
Because of you, in Afghanistan we've broken the momentum of the Taliban. Because of you, we've begun a transition to the Afghans that will allow us to bring our troops home from there. And around the globe, as we draw down in Iraq, we have gone after al Qaeda so that terrorists who threaten America will have no safe haven, and Osama bin Laden will never again walk the face of this Earth.
Barack ObamaRead
I want to say, and this is very important: at the end we lucked out. It was luck that prevented nuclear war. We came that close to nuclear war at the end. Rational individuals: Kennedy was rational; Khrushchev was rational; Castro was rational. Rational individuals came that close to total destruction of their societies. And that danger exists today.
Robert McnamaraRead
One of the greatest casualties of the war in Vietnam is the Great Society... shot down on the battlefield of Vietnam.
Martin Luther King, Jr.Read
I think the truth is that the Labour Party isn't believed any more because people suspect it will say anything to get votes. The rebuilding of some radical alternatives to Thatcherism - and by that I mean all-party Thatcherism - will require us to do some very difficult things
Tony BennRead
A politician, he knows that the majority cares little for ideals or integrity. What it craves is display.
Emma GoldmanRead
From the U.S. point of view, negotiations are, in effect, a way for Israel to continue its policies of systematically taking over whatever it wants in the West Bank, maintaining the brutal siege on Gaza, separating Gaza from the West Bank and, of course, occupying the Syrian Golan heights, all with full U.S. support.
Noam ChomskyRead