Friday, July 27, 2007

The Sum of Some Fears: Economic Prospects and Denial

The Sum of Some Fears - New York Times: By Paul Krugman
So why did people seem so shocked by a few more bad housing and oil numbers? What I guess I didn’t realize was how deep the denial still runs.

Over the last couple of years a peculiar conviction emerged among some analysts — mainly, for some reason, among those with right-wing political leanings — that the housing bubble was a myth and that the real bubble was in oil prices....

I didn’t think many people believed this stuff, but the market’s sudden freakout over housing and oil suggests that I was wrong.

Anyway, now reality is settling in. And there’s one more thing worth mentioning: the economic expansion that began in 2001, while it has been great for corporate profits, has yet to produce any significant gains for ordinary working Americans. And now it looks as if it never will.



That is, perhaps, Krugman's oblique response to David Brooks' prior column. I was hoping for a more comprehensive response.

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