Monday, January 23, 2012

Krugman is modestly optimistic

Well you could have knocked me over with a feather when I saw that Paul Krugman expressed "modest optimism" in his Monday column. I might actually believe the economy is recovering now.

Krugman:
But there are reasons to think that we’re finally on the (slow) road to better times. And we wouldn’t be on that road if Mr. Obama had given in to Republican demands that he slash spending, or the Federal Reserve had given in to Republican demands that it tighten money. Why am I letting a bit of optimism break through the clouds? Recent economic data have been a bit better, but we’ve already had several false dawns on that front. More important, there’s evidence that the two great problems at the root of our slump — the housing bust and excessive private debt — are finally easing.
 Whoah.

More at the Times.