Paul Krugman Quotes

2008 was to the American economy what 9/11 was to national security. Yet while 9/11 prompted the U.S. government to tear up half the Constitution in the name of public safety, after 2008, authorities went in the other direction.

Nationalization, unmentionable only yesterday, has entered common usage not least because an even scarier word - depression - is next on America's list to avoid.

The economic meltdown that would define every aspect of Obama's economy came to a head well before he became president, of course, and so did the legislation that would be the basis for everything that came after.

During an economic crisis, what matters is that the government keeps its foot on the accelerator.

The passage of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act - or stimulus bill, as it is often called - is a perfect example in which dire circumstances necessitate immediate action. But with such large amounts of taxpayer money at stake, a hastily developed, under-thought-out plan could have been disastrous.

In difficult economic times, I'm firmly opposed to austerity.

At best, in such depression times, monetary policy is a feeble reed on which to lean.

In terms of the economy, look, I inherited a recession, I am ending on a recession.

There was no blueprint or how-to manual for fixing a global financial meltdown, an auto crisis, two wars and a great recession, all at the same time.

The simple fact of the matter is, as I know everyone in this room knows, that the recession that this country faced when this President took office was the worst since the Great Depression.

No I don't think it was a myth at all, anymore than what the recession that the whole country was experiencing was a myth, which obviously seems like it's going to get worse and worse.

The entire economy, of course, is locked in a down cycle right now. Last time we weathered this was during another Bush presidency in '90. We were locked in it for a year and a half and everyone came out of it.

It's Obama's bad luck that he got elected just as the mayhem of the foreclosures, the banking collapse, and the General Motors disaster was accelerating the surge in unemployment to warp speed.

So, for example, a country was into recession right after I was sworn in, a dot-com bust had taken place. Then the attacks of September the 11th, and then of course the great financial meltdown in the -the fundamental question facing any presidency is how do you deal with the hand you're dealt?

You cannot spend your way out of recession or borrow your way out of debt.

But despite historic levels of obstruction, President Obama was able to bring the economy back from the verge of a second Great Depression.

Long periods of recession, which tend to be self-perpetuating, are usually ended by war, or by preparations for it.

I started out in public service in 1998 after the Asian financial crisis of '97.

We're still in a recession. We're not gonna be out of it for a while, but we will get out.

This President is going to lead us out of this recovery.

How much would you pay to avoid a second Depression?

It's a recession when your neighbor loses his job; it's a depression when you lose yours.

Canadians know that the promise of a recession didn't happen because of anything we did here. If you look at all the causes of the recession, problems in mortgage markets, the problems in the banking sector, the problems in government finance in countries like Greece, none of those problems were in present Canada.

If the program goes off track again due to recession, this should not become a pretext for the imposition of more austerity measures.

The International Monetary Fund is the doctor to sick economies.