Another Fine Mess You've Gotten Us Into

[jpmassar]

Comments

[schmengie]

me too. this is pretty bad. something drastic needs to be done to get people back to work pretty soon. of course I have my solution but I know its a non starter. I am not hopeful

[adb_jaeger]

I wonder what Krugman recommends?

[wild_irises]

You're as good a person to ask as any: why is this a recession and not a depression?

[adb_jaeger]

Simply put, spin.

[jpmassar]

I don't necessarily think so.

Things were a lot worse for a lot more people in the Great Depression than they are now.

[adb_jaeger]

that's why that one was "Great".

As you point out else-thread, the measurements don't quite match up.

Sure, we don't have crowds at soup kitchens, and people selling pencils and apples on corners.

But I think U-6 (which I think is still at 16+%) is a closer match to the 20% rate from the 30s.

[hgfalling]

The best part of it all is that all the Keynesian stimulus that could be mustered in the thirties hardly did anything at all to alleviate the unemployment of the Great Depression. George Santayana, please pick up the white courtesy phone.