Why the far-right is set on painting a 'dire portrait' of America’s collapse: Krugman

New York Times columnist Paul Krugman is casting doubt on the far right's patriotism in his latest essay, arguing conservatives' hatred of diversity, postmodern values and big cities translates to a hatred of America itself.

Krugman's new column, entitled "Why Does the Right Hate America," insinuates that the most popular right-wing concerns — like the hand-wringing over urban blight and crime, declining birth and marriage rates, and the uptick in addiction and suicide rates — are both overblown and misplaced. In fact, Krugman argues, American society is overall much safer and stable than right-wing pundits would have us believe.

"[B]etween 1990 and the eve of the Covid-19 pandemic there was a broad-based U.S. urban resurgence, largely driven by the return to city life of a significant number of affluent Americans, who increasingly valued the amenities cities can offer and were less worried by violent crime, which plunged after 1990," Krugman wrote. "True, some of the fall in crime was reversed during the pandemic, but it seems to be receding again. And Americans are coming back to urban centers: Working from home has reduced downtown foot traffic during the week, but weekend visitors are more or less back to prepandemic levels."

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"This doesn’t look like blight to me," he added.

The Nobel Prize-winning economist also pointed out that the decline in birth rates is partially a byproduct of declining teen pregnancies among high school-aged girls, and that the decline in marriage is also coupled with an overall decline in divorces. This, Krugman argues, suggests that American women are in a more stable place than they've been in decades.

"The most likely explanation, according to the economists Betsey Stevenson and Justin Wolfers, is that expanded job opportunities for women led to a temporary surge in divorces as women left unhappy marriages, which receded as marriages adjusted to the new social realities," Krugman wrote. "I take this to mean that during the 'good old days' there was a lot of quiet marital misery, some of which is now behind us."

In regard to conservatives' worries about "deaths of despair" attributed to addiction and suicide, Krugman agrees that society needs to respond appropriately. However, the columnist noted that most deaths of despair typically take place in more conservative rural communities.

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"[W]hile deaths from drugs, alcohol and suicide happen everywhere, they’re happening disproportionately not in liberal big cities but in left-behind rural regions, stranded by economic forces that have caused a migration of income and employment to relatively well-educated metropolitan areas," Krugman wrote. "If there’s 'psychic despair' driving addiction, it seems to be the despair that comes from not being able to get a job — not the despair that comes from a decline in traditional values."

Click here to read Krugman's full essay.