Nice sneakers, Krugman.
Chief Executive CY Leung met with Paul Krugman, the famous 2008 Nobel Laureate in Economic Sciences and New York Times columnist, on Tuesday.
According to the Hong Kong government the two met “to discuss economic and financial issues”, but the communications office only revealed what Leung told Krugman, because, you know, what CY said in the meeting is way more important than what one of the foremost economists of our time has to say.
Leung told the economist about the government’s policy direction on economic development, including how it wants to diversify the economy.
He also spoke to Krugman about their desire to grow the offshore Renminbi business in Hong Kong.
Perhaps the government’s reluctance to reveal Krugman’s side of the discussion has something to do with his October op-ed, “Plutocrats Against Democracy”.
The piece is a no-holds-barred take-down of the chief executive’s remarks back in October, when Leung said we can’t have democracy because it would give poor people too much power.
In case you thought that the chief executive perhaps misspoke, he defended his remarks. Multiple times.
“It’s always good when leaders tell the truth, especially if that wasn’t their intention,” Krugman wrote.
“So we should be grateful to Leung Chun-ying, the Beijing-backedleader of Hong Kong, for blurting out the real reason pro-democracy demonstrators can’t get what they want.”
Ouch!
Krugman explained that the world’s right-leaning elite are often afraid of democracy, since it’d give the people too much power, leading to higher taxes, more benefits for the poor, and maybe even a destroyed economy.
And what’s the best solution to prevent such a horrible scenario, according to Krugman?
“The obvious answer is Mr. Leung’s: Don’t let the bottom half, or maybe even the bottom 90 percent, vote.”
Yeah… That was probably one awkward meeting. There might not have been much going on besides thumb-twiddling and ceiling-staring after all.
Note: This article has been updated.
