Tuesday, April 7

Will economists save the world?

Barry Eichengreen and Kevin O’Rourke in this article write that the world is doing as bad as the 1930s Great Depression so far. In response to Eichengreen and O’Rourke's scary paper, Paul Krugman writes

"the only thing standing between us and Great Depression 2.0. It’s only to the extent that we understand these things a bit better than our grandfathers — and that we act on that knowledge"

Hopefully the economists understand and politicians will oblige, while the rest of us quiver in fear

"The poll found that 70 percent of respondents were very or somewhat concerned that someone in their household would be out of work and looking for a job in the next 12 months."

and hope for the best from Obama...

"For all that, the number of people who said they thought the country was headed in the right direction jumped from 15 percent in mid-January, just before Mr. Obama took office, to 39 percent today, while the number who said it was headed in the wrong direction dropped to 53 percent from 79 percent. That is the highest percentage of Americans who said the country was headed in the right direction since 42 percent said so in February 2005, the second month of President George W. Bush’s second term."

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