The Depression

At a public philosophy discussion that I was moderating on Thursday evening one participant started to make a point saying "In the Depression, ..." I interrupted him and asked whether he was referring to the current depression or the last one. My query got a few laughs, but at least some of the laughter was probably nervous laughter. Maybe that about sums up where people feel that we are, not convinced that the current economic situation is necessarily headed for a full-blown depression, but not absolutely convinced otherwise either.

The next year will tell us what we are really dealing with.

I continue to belief that we are dealing with merely a "recession with adjectives" and that the combination of the actions of the Federal Reserve, fiscal stimulus, corporate restructuring, the vast amounts of money still in private hands, and just the passage of time will restore at least a facsimile of growth shortly.

-- Jack Krupansky