Krugman: The Third Depression

Is it time to stop referring to this economic slump as a recession? That’s what The New York Times’ Paul Krugman suggests in his latest op-ed, in which he claims that the world is in the early stages of a lingering depression. Only two other economic eras have been described as depression, Krugman says. Discouraged by the fiscal policies espoused at this weekend’s G-20 summit, which he sees as harmful to a recovery, the economist argues that this depression “will be primarily a failure of policy.” Leaders are “obsessing about inflation when the real threat is deflation, preaching the need for belt-tightening when the real problem is inadequate spending,” Krugman writes. His dire prediction? Tens of millions of unemployed workers, “some of whom will never work again.”