/n. “Bleakonomics” refers to the dire forecasts, depressing warnings, and otherwise gloomy chatter that’s still brewing beneath the recent round of cheerier economic predictions. The bleakonomists warn us that any sense of hope we feel is entirely unfounded. Recently, Havard’s Niall Ferguson announced that we are in a “slight depression” rather than a recession, and went on to forecast a five-year scenario of sub-prime growth. This dark prognosticating gives him strong bleakonomics credentials.
Ex. I’m won’t be buying a house with all the bleakonomics talk going on – are you nuts?
We’re in a “slight depression”? Is that like being slightly pregnant?
Ha! It sure sounds like it, right? I think Niall was trying to protect himself from sounding alarmist. I wasn’t surprised to hear him saying something controversial, because he’s such a media hound, but Jeff Madrick, who was debating him the night Niall made the comment, doesn’t have the habit of talking loosely – and he basically agreed! 5 years of subrprime growth was actually the only thing the two of them agreed upon.