Nobel-winning economist warns of Russian-style 'kleptocracy' in U.S.

Nobel-winning economist warns of Russian-style 'kleptocracy' in U.S.. November. 17, 2016 07:19. by 한기재 record@donga.com. Paul Krugman, the 2008 Nobel Prize-winning economist and New York Times columnist, has warned that Donald Trump's election as U.S. president signals the advent of "all-out kleptocracy." On his Twitter account, the economist wrote, "(Trump) is now making it clear that he won't separate himself from his business interests. His transition team is basically all lobbyists. In short, we're almost surely looking at all-out kleptocracy, along the lines of what happened in Russia or Ukraine. Strange, isn't it?" Krugman also implied that Trump's 550-billion-dollar infrastructure plan would be used to enrich Trump and his friends.

Trump caused controversy over his transition team by filling it with famous lobbyists for big businesses in the energy and agricultural industries as well as his family members. Although the Wall Street Journal reported on Tuesday that Vice President-Elect Mike Pence, who heads the transition team, ordered the team to exclude all lobbyists, Trump's family members, including his eldest daughter Ivanka, remain in the team. "Trump clearly intends to break many of the rules, from personal accountability on up. And one justification will be that critics have no right to complain, because the American people chose Trump," Krugman wrote. "That would be a bad argument in any case but it's especially bad because the people did make a choice last week -- and it was Hillary Clinton."