Krugman's Desperate Plea: Spend, Spend, Spend

You can tell Krugman's desperate, because he avoids invective and name-calling - he sincerely believes we need to have much, much more stimulus spending. But that kind of spending is a huge gamble - we're betting the pot on the effectiveness of stimulus spending to spur growth.

But why can't he see what this recession is. This is not a retrenchment from excessive private sector demand like a classic recession. What we have now is a new reality born out of the destruction of trillions of dollars of wealth. It is as if you were spending money knowing you had so much money saved for retirement, then suddenly found that those savings have disappeared (not that I'd know anything about that). The only thing you can do then is to completely reassess your situation and perhaps remake yourself. Work more, if possible; find a new career; figure out a new strategy for your older years. But continuing the spending as it was is not an option - you've got to cut back.

That's where the U.S. is right now - in that reassessment phase. But no one in charge seems to be doing any re-assessing.