Krugman: The Big Uneasy (Crises include confidence)

[Inland]

I have Times Select, nyah nyah nyah.

http://select.nytimes.com/2005/09/23/opinion/23krugman.html?oref=login&pagewanted=print

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But Katrina did more than physical damage; it was a blow to our self-image as a nation. Maybe people will quickly forget the horrible scenes from the Superdome, and the frustration of wondering why no help had arrived, once cable TV returns to nonstop coverage of missing white women. But my guess is that Katrina's shock to our sense of ourselves will persist for years.

America's current state of mind reminds me of the demoralized mood of late 1979, when a confluence of events - double-digit inflation, gas lines and the Iranian hostage crisis - led to a national crisis of confidence.
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And here's the important point: these blows to our national self-image are mutually reinforcing. The sense that we're caught in an unwinnable war reinforces the sense that the economy is getting worse, and vice versa. So we're having a crisis of confidence.

It's the kind of crisis that opens the door for dramatic political changes - possibly, but not necessarily, in a good direction. But who will provide leadership, now that Mr. Bush is damaged goods?


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One of the biggest changes when Clinton became president was a feeling that the US wasn't necessarily lacking in political direction. Remember Ross Perot and his charts and the sense of impending doom because our government was guaranteed gridlocked and choked by politics and hesitation? Those days are back.