Paul Krugman -- who just won some award of some sort -- offers up an interesting capsule history of the past few years in the economy. Krugman recalls the 2000-2001 recession, a product of the tech bubble popping. That recession could have been long and it could have been deep, but for incredibly sharp interest rate cuts that brought the federal funds rate down to a mere one percent. That meant a lot of easy money. Which is what powered the Housing Bubble. In essence, says Krugman, Greenspan replaced the tech bubble with the housing bubble. But now the housing bubble has popped, and it's not obvious that there's yet another bubble waiting to replace it. Nor easy money. Which suggests we're in for a long downturn, and a slow recovery. This has some policy implications, particularly when it comes to stimulus through investment. "The usual argument against public works as economic stimulus is that they take too long," says Krugman, "by the time you get around to repairing that bridge and upgrading that rail line, the slump is over and the stimulus isn’t needed. Well, that argument has no force now, since the chances that this slump will be over anytime soon are virtually nil. So let’s get those projects rolling." Conversely, the Onion has some ideas for the next big bubble:
As they say, "What America needs right now is not more talk and long-term strategy, but a concrete way to create more imaginary wealth in the very immediate future."
As they say, "What America needs right now is not more talk and long-term strategy, but a concrete way to create more imaginary wealth in the very immediate future." 
