Paul Krugman: Why This Economic Crisis Is Not Like The Others

A number of people have asked me to respond to a recent Wall Street Journal op-ed written by Phil Gramm, the former United States senator from Texas, and Glenn Hubbard, the dean of Columbia University's business school, about the Reagan recovery versus the Obama recovery, and why it proves that right-wing economics roolz.

But I already did respond. When? In February 2008 — back when people like Mr. Hubbard and Mr. Gramm were denying that there was any recession at all. In fact, Mr. Gramm declared that all we had was a "mental recession," and that America had become a "nation of whiners" in an interview published in The Washington Times on July 9, 2008.