Q. So if we are headed into a downturn ”” you hear the word recession batted about almost every day now ”” how severe might it actually be?
A. I think people need to be careful about the language that they use. I think almost all economists agree that the economy is slowing down. Where people differ is whether that’s going to remain a slowdown but something short of the kind of more serious slowdown that’s often characterized as a recession, or whether we really do get into serious difficulty. And I think it is impossible to have a judgment that you’re going to have a very high level of confidence in, but I think what one can say with a fair measure of confidence is that the risk has increased.
And it’s gotten to the level which calls for policymakers to be very active in all of the various ways they can be to try to address these risks and minimize the probability of serious difficulty ”” or if we have it, minimize the severity and length of that difficulty. And that means the [Federal] Reserve Board and it also means the administration and Congress [will need to act] in a whole host of areas including, but not limited to, the stimulus that’s now being discussed.
I would recommend amending the headline to indicate this was Robert Rubin — who, in my opinion, was one of the better Clinton appointees.
It won’t be a recession till you lose your job.
It will be a depression when I lose my job.
[i]I think people need to be careful about the language that they use.[/i]
That makes it official: we’re going to have a [url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,919922-1,00.html]banana[/url].
spt+ (Undergrad business major, 1977-81)