Harvard's Feldstein Sees Risk of 'Double-Dip' Recession in US

[Purveyor]

By Bob Willis and Betty Liu

July 21 (Bloomberg) -- The U.S. recession may not be coming to an end and there is a risk the economy may experience a “double-dip” contraction, said Martin Feldstein, a professor of economics at Harvard University.

“There is a real danger this is going to be a double dip and that after six months or so we’ll have some more bad news,” Feldstein, the former head of the National Bureau of Economic Research and Reagan administration adviser, said today in an interview on Bloomberg Television. “We could slide down again in the fourth quarter.”

The economy could “flatten out” or “even be positive” in the third quarter, and then it’s likely to contract again in the last three months of the year as the effects of the federal stimulus program wear off and companies finish rebuilding inventories, he said.

“There isn’t going to be enough to sustain a really solid recovery,” he said, even though recent data has provided some “good news” on the economy.

Feldstein said Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke, whose term in office as chairman expires Jan. 31, should be reappointed to a second four-year term by President Barack Obama.

Bernanke has “done a very good job and I think he should be reappointed,” Feldstein said. Bernanke is due to present his semi-annual monetary-policy testimony to Congress today.

more...

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=a3IpfKeeveVM

[ananda]

1. Authors of failure should be reappointed?

What planet of cognitive dissonance does this guy live on?