[KeyWest]

Agree. The basic underpinnings of the US economy has kept the swings of the economy fairly low and brought it back to earth when it went too high. After the tech bubble burst, under the old economy, it would have gone into deep depression, but it cannot. It is robust. This sounds like a lot of the buy gold crowd who have been consistently wrong. Or he is selling a book. Take a look at all the books that talk of the 'coming depression" of fill in the year. You get more than a few each decade.

[JNB]

While I do not agree with all of the editorials conclusion, I am more in the camp that thinks the 00s will in many ways resemble the 70s in terms of the economy, though a bit worse and painful than the 70s was, you have to understand what has kep the economy afloat in the last 2 years.

It is not high tech, it is not productivity(BLS numbers are trash anyways). It is artificlaly low rates that have enabled people to re-fi their homes and the auto makers to sell cars at 0% rates. Now the automakers are starting to choke, and the last string holding up the economy is housing. Yes rates are low, but how much more can the economy sustain with the job losses?