Paul Krugman: Lost Decade, Here We Come

The Business Insider ^ | 6-6-2010 | Henry Blodget

[Soul of the South]

Another lost decade is coming. With the exception of Wall Street investment bankers and government workers, standards of living declined for Americans in the first decade of the 21st century. The second decade could be worse.

[Canedawg]

“standards of living declined for Americans in the first decade of the 21st century. The second decade could be worse.”
*****

Welcome to wealth redistribution. Ain’t it a gas?

(Yep, I have gas over this.)

[DuncanWaring]

There’s a lot of books on Kondratieff waves out there; got any particular recommendations?

[Travis McGee]

No book recommendations, just google around the internet for essays.

[Republic of Texas]

Sounds like a good tagline.

[newfreep]

I “borrowed” that from some economist named Friedman - you may have heard of him?

[Lancey Howard]

Over the past 30 years or so, at an ever-doubling pace, Americans have run up credit cards, high LTV mortgages, new car loans, and personal loans (for big-screen TVs and a zillion other toys) all for the purpose of living high on the hog today with the idea that it will be paid for sometime in the distant future.

Government has operated in the same way.

How could anybody have thought this scheme could be sustainable forever?
And Krugman thinks the answer is to double down on the same scheme??

It is my opinion that the time to pay the piper is closer than most people are willing to believe.

[Travis McGee]

How could anybody have thought this scheme could be sustainable forever? And Krugman thinks the answer is to double down on the same scheme??

Yes and yes.