Jackson, Mississippi water crisis blamed on Republicans by New York Times columnist Krugman

New York Times columnist Paul Krugman blamed Republicans for the collapse of Jackson, Mississippi’s water supply, in addition to its other infrastructural problems, in a column published on Friday.

The economist argued that the city is suffering because Republicans in charge of the state are opposed to big government programs like "universal health care" and think "tax cuts" can solve problems.

Krugman began his piece by mentioning how Mississippi "is America’s poorest state, with real gross domestic product per person only about 60 percent of the national average. The United States, however, is a rich country, so Mississippi doesn’t look that bad by international standards." 

He pointed out that by world standards it should at least be doing as well as modern European countries. He wrote, "Specifically, it’s roughly on a par with southern European countries: a bit poorer than Spain, a bit richer than Portugal," adding, "Yet the citizens of Portugal and Spain have things that not all citizens of Mississippi have, things like universal health care — and running water."

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Krugman then explained what has befallen the capital of Mississippi, writing, "On Monday the water supply to Jackson, the state’s capital and largest city, collapsed. Much of the city has no running water at all; nowhere in the city is the water safe to drink. And it’s not clear when service will be restored."

The columnist added that  "torrential rains" had "overwhelmed the city’s largest water treatment plant," though the problem had been magnified because "the city’s water system was already failing, the result of years of neglect."

This is where his political accusations came into play. "This neglect, in turn, was essentially a political decision. Mississippi as a whole, despite relatively low income by U.S. standards, surely has the resources to provide safe drinking water to all its residents," he wrote.

"However, Jackson — a largely Black inner-city core whose economy has been hollowed out by white flight — does not," Krugman added, before pointing the finger at Republican leadership. 

"But never fear: Back in April, Gov. Tate Reeves, a Republican, announced that he was making ‘an investment in Mississippians’ — by ‘an investment’ he meant a tax cut rather than spending on, say, education or infrastructure."

Krugman acknowledged that the poor economic conditions in the area factored into the collapse. "But one thing is for sure: Imagining that tax cuts will bring prosperity to a poorly educated state that can’t even provide its capital with running water is just delusional," he declared, slamming Reeves’ plan. 

He then blamed the GOP’s supposed hatred of big government. Krugman wrote, "Since Ronald Reagan, the Republican Party has been dominated by anti-government ideology. As the anti-tax activist Grover Norquist famously put it, the goal was to shrink government to the point that you could ‘drown it in the bathtub.’"

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The economist claimed that since the departure of Trump – who he claimed seemed at one point interested in "accepting the social safety net while focusing on ethnic and racial hostility" – Republicans "have doubled down on right-wing economics."

"And Republican-run states have gone beyond cutting social programs to eviscerating public services Americans have taken for granted for many generations, services like public education — and drinkable water," he added. 

Krugman concluded his column with the rhetorical question, "Can you drown the government in a bathtub if you can’t even fill the bathtub?"

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