“The opposite of depression is not happiness, but vitality, and it was vitality that seemed to seep away from me in that moment.” Like Andrew Solomon many of us think we are tough enough to handle most situations. We can handle sadness and grief, but what happens if you find yourself suffering from depression?
Conversations with Great Minds – Paul Krugman – End This Depression Now
Thom Hartmann is joined by Nobel Prize winning economist Dr. Paul Krugman, professor of economics and current affairs at Princeton University and columnist on the New York Times. His new book is titled: End This Depression Now. Europe is in crisis mode. The United States could be headed off a fiscal cliff at the end of the year.
Part 2:
Comment:~ Paul Krugman believes in big government and big unions and dismisses the alternative as “voodoo economics”. The issues are more complicated than this. John Maynard Keynes was right in some areas — austerity does not restore confidence in a shrinking economy — but over-simplistic in others. If governments do run deficits — I believe this is a necessary evil during a financial crisis — increasing government spending on welfare payments and non-productive assets simply carries the country to the next crisis — ballooning public debt. The only way to avoid this is to channel fiscal deficits into productive investment which will enhance GDP growth and help to repay the debt incurred.