Racism is central to Donald Trump’s brand of politics, but it is nothing new in America — its pervasiveness is arguably one key reason America’s social policies are so reactionary compared to other rich nations, with millions lacking access to basic services like health care, child care, paid vacation, and so on.

Paul Krugman, the Nobel-winning economist and New York Times columnist, said in his keynote address at the Economic Policy Institute’s recent conference on “Taxing the (Very) Rich”: “Race is the reason the U.S. doesn’t look like other advanced countries in terms of a social-safety net.”

“It’s central to everything,” Krugman said in a speech that focused on the risks to not just the economy but also democracy itself from the hyper-concentration of wealth at the very top of the income ladder.

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