GGII = Great Depression 2

GGII - you're hearing it first here on NVDL. - it will become an acronym that defines these worsening times. It's an ironic looking acronym too, because each letter is duplicated, implying one is seeing double, but not only that, that it is necessary to emphasise the letters in order that they be seen at all. Such was our blindness that led to the GGII state of affairs (which many still deny is even a possibility).

Paul Krugman's article [see clip below] is insightful from the first paragraph:

“If we don’t act swiftly and boldly,” declared President-elect Barack Obama in his latest weekly address, “we could see a much deeper economic downturn that could lead to double-digit unemployment.” If you ask me, he was understating the case.

clipped from www.nytimes.com The fact is that recent economic numbers have been terrifying, not just in the United States but around the world. Manufacturing, in particular, is plunging everywhere. Banks aren’t lending; businesses and consumers aren’t spending. Let’s not mince words: This looks an awful lot like the beginning of a second Great Depression. For many years most economists believed that preventing another Great Depression would be easy. John Maynard Keynes, who argued that monetary policy is ineffective under depression conditions and that fiscal policy — large-scale deficit spending by the government — is needed to fight mass unemployment. The failure of monetary policy in the current crisis shows that Keynes had it right the first time. And Keynesian thinking lies behind Mr. Obama’s plans to rescue the economy. So this is our moment of truth. Will we in fact do what’s necessary to prevent Great Depression II?