Krugman: "...the wheels are coming off this economy"

[El Pinko]

http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/02/15/the-consumer-is-always-right/

The consumer is always right
OK, not really. But the plunge in consumer confidence in recent weeks is pretty startling. The chart below shows the University of Michigan index; consumer confidence is now lower than it ever was during the 2001 recession and aftermath, and close to its worst levels during the early 90s, when the unemployment rate went well above 7 percent.

Bit by bit, the evidence is mounting that the wheels are coming off this economy.

[lligrd]

1. The Evidence Was There Long Ago

Americans just didn't want to acknowledge it. Our worship of corporations was bound to prove disastrous. Illegal, imperialistic wars that we can't afford, don't help either.

[JDPriestly]

2. We are almost as discouraged as we were during Bush I's reign.

[El Pinko]

3. The thing that bugs me is that the worst of this will be in the next president's first term

It may be the whole term before there is any sort of convincing recovery. My fear is that if it's a democrat, he or she will end up getting blamed for the Bushnomics (and to some degree Clintonomics, and to a great degree, Greenspanomics) mess.

[JDPriestly]

4. Yes. The next president will get the blame unless we keep

reminding everyone that this president -- Bush is to blame. Poor Carter paid for the economic policies of Nixon. Nixon let the dollar slide. Nixon spent unnecessary money in Viet Nam long after the inevitable loss was evident.