Economist Paul Krugman: America’s 'superyacht boom' underscores its 'extreme inequality'

During the Joe Biden era, Paul Krugman has been quite bullish on the U.S. economy. The liberal economist and New York Times columnist has emphasized that under Biden, the United States has had some of its lowest unemployment rates in more than half a century.

But Krugman has also had a lot to say about U.S. inequality, complaining that the gap between America's haves and have-nots is still way too large. In his April 11 column, Krugman cites "superyachts" as a reminder of inequality.

"According to a 2022 article in The New Yorker," Krugman explains, "any yacht over 98 feet long is considered a superyacht within the yachting community. Which got me thinking about big yachts and what they tell us about the state of society. When rich people can afford to buy and operate big yachts, they do. Indeed, yachts are a highly visible indicator of inequality, the concentration of income and wealth in the hands of the few. The Gilded Age was marked by a proliferation of ever bigger, ever more elaborately furnished yachts; when J.P. Morgan built a large steam yacht, its 1898 launch was featured in The New York Times."

READ MORE: US inflation was even lower than expected in March: CPI

Krugman continues, "Conversely, the Great Compression of income disparities that took place during the 1940s and made America a relatively middle-class society for the next four decades put an end to the first golden era of superyachts. In 1955, Fortune published a remarkable essay, 'How Top Executives Live,' which stressed how modest their standard of living had become compared with pre-War norms. Among other things, large yachts had 'foundered in the sea of progressive taxation'…. Now, superyachts are back. Indeed, according to that New Yorker article, we're living through 'the greatest boom in the yacht business that has ever existed'…. If you had any doubts about whether we're living in an era of extreme wealth concentration, comparable to or even surpassing the Gilded Age, the superyacht boom should quell those doubts."

In his April 10 column, however, Krugman focuses on some good economic news: the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) report on unemployment for March 2023. According to the BLS, the U.S. had 3.5 percent unemployment in March — a figure that, Krugman emphasizes, explodes the right-wing myth that big chunks of the U.S. population are lazy.

"Americans, they said, just don't want to work," Krugman writes. "Socialism has made them lazy. They'd rather play video games.… Remember all that talk about Americans dropping out of the labor force?…. The overall unemployment rate is only 3.5 percent; we haven't had that spirit here since 1969. Black unemployment is at a record low. There's good news everywhere you look. So, whaddya know: Provide enough job opportunities, and lazy video-game-playing Americans will take those jobs and, apparently, demonstrate enough skill that employers want to keep them."

BLS figures for March, Krugman adds, show that Biden's economic policies are still working.

READ MORE: US inflation was even lower than expected in March: CPI

"It is worth noting that Republicans keep insisting President Biden's policies have been an economic disaster, and that even the mainstream news media has tended to emphasize inflation — which has been a nasty shock, even though it may be subsiding — rather than job gains," the economist/columnist observes. "So, it does seem worth pointing out that at this point, Biden is presiding over the best job market America has seen in a generation — specifically since the boom of the late (Bill) Clinton years."

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Read Paul Krugman’s full New York Times columns at this link and this link (subscription required).