A "Retoma" e o "Mundo às Avessas"
Com o espectro da Grande Depressão mais longe, a retoma anda na boca do mundo. De um mundo às avessas: o número de desempregados continua a crescer (vide os Estados Unidos), mas os especialistas já cantam a retoma da economia. De uma economia onde as pessoas não contam. O que conta, sim, são as cotações em bolsa e os lucros das instituições financeiras do costume. É assim o nosso mundo. Um mundo que parece viver de regularidades estatísticas. Talvez porque as estatísticas tenham propriedades terapêuticas.
Krugman, povocador, parece resistir a esse canto:
Krugman, povocador, parece resistir a esse canto:
So it seems that we aren’t going to have a second Great Depression after all. What saved us? The answer, basically, is Big Government.
Just to be clear: the economic situation remains terrible, indeed worse than almost anyone thought possible not long ago. The nation has lost 6.7 million jobs since the recession began. Once you take into account the need to find employment for a growing working-age population, we’re probably around nine million jobs short of where we should be.
And the job market still hasn’t turned around — that slight dip in the measured unemployment rate last month was probably a statistical fluke. We haven’t yet reached the point at which things are actually improving; for now, all we have to celebrate are indications that things are getting worse more slowly.
Just to be clear: the economic situation remains terrible, indeed worse than almost anyone thought possible not long ago. The nation has lost 6.7 million jobs since the recession began. Once you take into account the need to find employment for a growing working-age population, we’re probably around nine million jobs short of where we should be.
And the job market still hasn’t turned around — that slight dip in the measured unemployment rate last month was probably a statistical fluke. We haven’t yet reached the point at which things are actually improving; for now, all we have to celebrate are indications that things are getting worse more slowly.
