My last column: Finding hope in an age of resentment

Where have all the good vibes gone?

- Paul Krugman

This is my final column for The New York Times, where I began publishing my opinions in January 2000. I'm retiring from the Times, not the world, so I'll still be expressing my views in other places. But this does seem like a good occasion to reflect on what has changed over these past 25 years.

What strikes me, looking back, is how optimistic many people, both here and in much of the Western world, were back then and the extent to which that optimism has been replaced by anger and resentment. And I'm not just talking about members of the working class who feel betrayed by elites; some of the angriest, most resentful people in America right now - people who seem very likely to have a lot of influence with the incoming Trump administration - are billionaires who don't feel sufficiently admired.

It's hard to convey just how good most Americans were feeling in 1999 and early 2000. Polls showed a level of satisfaction with the direction of the country that looks surreal by today's standards. My sense of what happened in the 2000 election was that many Americans took peace and prosperity for granted, so they voted for the guy who seemed as if he'd be more fun to hang out with.

In Europe, too, things seemed to be going well. In particular, the introduction of the euro in 1999 was widely hailed as a step towards closer political as well as economic integration - toward a United States of Europe, if you like. Some of us ugly Americans had misgivings, but initially they weren't widely shared.