Paul Krugman's Prescription For a Depression

"In his new book, End This Depression Now! Paul Krugman states that the U.S. is in the throes of a depression — not merely an economic crisis. TheNew York Times columnist and Nobel laureate argues that Keynesian economics got us out of a much worse depression in the 1930s, so if we were to follow Keynesian prescriptions now, we could get out of this one too."

"Krugman says he uses the term depression to describe today's economy because "it's qualitatively similar to the Great Depression." He tells NPR's Robert Siegel, 'It is a sustained period of really lousy economic performance and an enormous amount of suffering.'"

"Krugman worries that we're becoming accustomed to this reality. 'We've kind of settled into the notion that this is the new normal,' he says. 'But it shouldn't be. And it's not something we should accept.'"