Maybe we could call this the "grandpa argument": to anyone complaining of a misfortune, you reply by recounting misfortunes much worse. So if someone says it's hot, tell him about when you forgot to turn on your air conditioning. When someone says school is hard, tell them about when you went to school and had to run both ways uphill in the snow with bricks.<\/p>\n
Robert Samuelson<\/a> offers us a nice example of this. He writes:<\/p>\n The specter of depression stalks America. You hear the word repeatedly<\/strong>. Are we in a depression? If not, are we headed for one? The answer to the first question is no; the answer to the second is "almost certainly not." The use of "depression" to describe the economy is a case of rhetorical overkill that speaks volumes about today's widespread pessimism and anxiety. A short history lesson shows why<\/strong>. <\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n I haven't heard the word "depression" at all (and my quick and informal Google search did not produce anything serious). I've certainly heard the word "recession," which is a much different thing. So who is Samuelson talking about? He doesn't really say. And this isn't just a lead in. He's serious. He concludes:<\/p>\n We are relearning an old lesson: The business cycle isn't dead.<\/strong> Prosperity's pleasures breed complacency and inspire mistakes that, in time, boomerang on financial markets, job creation and production. Just as expansions ultimately tend to self-destruct, so downswings tend to generate self-correcting forces. People pay down debts; pent-up demand develops; surviving companies expand. The Great Depression was an exception. The present economy would have to get much, much, much worse before it warranted the same appraisal. <\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n So there you have it. Samuelson has conjured up a non-existent opponent, and soundly defeated him. Now the funny thing is this. Normally one makes such arguments in order to defeat much stronger ones–or so goes the strategy of the straw man. Samuelson, however, doesn't seem to suggest that much. So, while today may be no Great Depression, it doesn't mean that it's not a "recession" (which is another, more interesting question Samuelson might have spent more time addressing). <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Maybe we could call this the "grandpa argument": to anyone complaining of a misfortune, you reply by recounting misfortunes much worse. So if someone says it's hot, tell him about when you forgot to turn on your air conditioning. When someone says school is hard, tell them about when you went to school and had … Continue reading Back in my day<\/span> \n
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