The NY Times offers an interesting article on Nouriel Roubini (AKA “Dr. Doom”), an economics professor at New York University, who predicted the current decline in the U.S. economy two years ago. Roubini has been labeled as a pessemist, written off as a naysayer, but is now being invited to address Congress, the Council on Foreign Relations and the World Economic Forum at Davos.
Apparently, an unhealthy amount of optomism is built into prevailing economic theories. “These are things most economists barely understand,” said Roubini. “We’re in uncharted territory where standard economic theory isn’t helpful.” Roubini cites extensive national and personal debt as a major factor, from educational loans to government spending. He predicts continued economic decline with a renewal by the end of 2009. Of course, we can’t place our hope in any economic predictions, much less the economy itself. Perhaps this trend will alert us to the affluenza that plagues the American soul, and lead it to not only more responsible spending but also more life-fulfilling hopes.
He closes the article with these words:
“Once you run current-account deficits, you depend on the kindness of strangers,” he said, pausing to let out a resigned sigh. “This might be the beginning of the end of the American empire.”