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.
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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.
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The raw fact is that every successful example of economic development this past century ... has taken place via globalization.
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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.
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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.
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The economics profession went astray because economists, as a group, mistook beauty, clad in impressive-looking mathematics, for truth.
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