re:  "The 'new normal' for the economy"

Paul Krugman is rightly worried about the current unemployment rate(still hovering around 10% despite over $800 billion in "stimulus"spending) and the prospects for future job creation; however, he shouldn't be surprised.  Dr. Krugman is a vocal advocate for the establishment of European-style government in the United States:  higher taxes, more intrusive regulation, and costlier, more expansive social welfare programs.  He was a cheerleader for the recently-enacted "ObamaCare", financial regulation overhaul, and is a proponent of a "cap-and-trade" energy tax system.  The result of similar schemes in European countries like France, Germany, and the United Kingdom has been... unemployment rates hovering around 10% for several years.

It would appear that what Dr. Krugman fears could become the "new normal" in the US economy is simply "normal" in countries that implement the policies he advocates here in America.  While he may be brilliant in studying "the effects of economies of scale on trade patterns and on the location of economic activity" (for which he won his Nobel Prize), he appears to engage in cognitive dissonance when discussing political economics.

Sincerely,
Dave Smith
Houston, TX