Fox News and other partisan networks have demonstrated that the quickest route to huge profitability is to serve up a steady diet of high-carb, low-protein populist pap. Reasoned disagreement of the kind that could serve democracy well fails the market test. Those of us who otherwise believe in the virtues of unfettered capitalism should bear that fact in mind.
His speech was on the topic of how to disagree reasonably. It is here where I think that Paul Krugman has met the market test and failed the public responsibility test. To be responsible, you have to set a good example of how to disagree. To set a good example, you have to take the most charitable possible view of those who disagree. This is difficult, as commenters frequently remind me when I do a poor job of it. And even if I do sometimes offer a charitable view of those who disagree, obviously I don’t generate clicks in the volume that Krugman does.
But I want to emphasize that we need to try to disagree reasonably. The alternative approach of fighting tribally is not working well and will only make things worse. Again, see The Three Languages of Politics.