In his conversation with Kai Ryssdal, Robert Samuelson eloquently expressed the need for economies to shrink once in a while. If only the Federal Reserve shared this realism…

I do think, though, that there are dilemmas here that we have not been very candid in acknowledging. You can't find an economist who will stand up in public very often and say, "sometimes we need recessions." Periodic small setbacks may be better than trying to prolong a business cycle for a large number of years, because we may discover that in a year or two, we suffer a much harsher and more dangerous recession.