*  *  *  According to the National Bureau of Economic Research, the U.S. economy entered its tenth postwar recession early this year. At this point, and according to the Blue Chip forecasters, the recession seems to have been much milder than most, with the unemployment rate unlikely to go much above 6 percent.
But in the early fall there were moments when the risk of a serious downturn was much greater, and even the relatively flat 2001 recession prompted renewed policy discussions about how to deal with recessions. Today, I offer my own views on the subject.