Guesswork *Cough I Mean Economics

This is not comforting.

Annie Lowery at the Washington Independent:

Sandra Pianalto, the president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland, gave a speech explaining how she analyzes the economy and forecasting a long, slow recovery, given the unusually high unemployment rate and the massive numbers of long-term unemployed. In her highly dovish speech, she says she recognizes strong disinflationary, not inflationary, pressures and stresses the problem of joblessness. (The Fed’s inflation hawks tend to worry more about inflation than employment.)

Most interestingly, Pianalto argues that the analytical paradigm that led economists and policymakers to miss the credit and housing bubbles en masse remains in place — essentially saying that economics has not yet caught up with the economy and that her job remains an exercise in judgment and guesswork.

Shouldn't somebody, you know, do something about this...

I am Frank Chow and I approved this message