Re: [Pen-l] What more specifically does irreversible mean ?

[Jim Devine <jdevine03@xxxxxxxxx>]

Charles Brown <cdb1003@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

>>  President Barack Obama warned on Thursday that failure to act on an economic recovery package could plunge the nation into a long-lasting recession that might prove irreversible, a fresh call to a recalcitrant Congress to move quickly.<<

CB: >What more specifically does irreversible mean ?<

it seems to be mere political rhetoric. "Irreversible" would mean that
the economy would fall into a depression that couldn't be fixed. But
as Keynes pointed out, it can be fixed. The problem is that it would
be (1) very expensive to fix, in terms of government deficits and
future interest on the increased government debt; and (2) difficult to
convince Congress (and their campaign contributors and voters) to go
along. Obama's word seems an effort to deal with the second problem.

I'd guess that nothing is truly irreversible: it's possible to put a
broken egg back in its original state, but it's really, really
expensive.
-- 
Jim Devine / "Disbelief in magic can force a poor soul into believing
in government and business."  -- Tom Robbins
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