Thank God It’s Monday

01Dec08

Caitlin Howarth, National Policy Director

Workaholics around the world started the day with those four words.  They say that the first step is to admit you have a problem.  I say to embrace the fact that there’s so much going on – like in Poznan, where the UN’s Convention on Climate Change kicked off today.  Which means that I’m already 6 hours behind.  Crap.

You might also feel like you’re behind on your understanding of the economic crisis.  And let’s face it, you probably are.  To catch up, I recommend Paul Krugman’s updated book, The Return of Depression Economics and the Crisis of 2008.  At less than 200 pages, it reads like an extended lecture, sans economist jargon.  It’ll help you understand the dynamics at work in the current crisis, the policies that got us from the Great Depression to where we are today, and includes recommendations for what to do next.  Spoiler alert: we need to reverse our current mindset and take far more aggressive actions to get ourselves out of this mess.  Also, Krugman makes the argument for the use of whimsy, which puts him on top of my Wonks to Love list.  (Note: There’s a much more complex argument to be made here, so if you’re on top of your modern economic history, this text may frustrate you.  Just read Krugman’s blog if you’re interested in his take on the crisis.)

p.s. If you want to follow more up-to-date posts, go to the Policy Farm Team – the official blog of the Roosevelt Institution.  It’s more frequently updated than this one, since I don’t always remember to cross-post.

Filed under: Economic Development   |  Leave a Comment
Tags: climate change, financial crisis, Krugman, Poznan