Getting it wrong.

[Griff]

David Brooks wrote a very interesting piece in yesterday's Times.

But an economy is a society of trust and faith. A recession is a mental event, and every recession has its own unique spirit. This recession was caused by deep imbalances and is propelled by a cascade of fundamental insecurities. You can pump hundreds of billions into the banks, but insecure bankers still won’t lend. You can run up gigantic deficits, hire road builders and reduce the unemployment rate from 8 percent to 7 percent, but insecure people will still not spend and invest.

If you've read him over the last couple years you'll realize he's been reading a lot of brain science and psych stuff. He is shedding his ideology in favor of a more clear-eyed view of humanity.

Mechanistic thinkers on the right and left pose as rigorous empiricists. But empiricism built on an inaccurate view of human nature is just a prison.

DB is getting it right.