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The Worst of Times

Some people think Paul Krugman has exaggerated the extent of the economic crisis. Paul Krugman thinks these people should look at graphs like this one, from the New York Times' Catherine Rampell, comparing employment losses in different recessions...

...and this one depicting the standard unemployment rate:

I'm no economist, but that seems pretty convincing to me--particularly since other data, like the "economic security index" that a group of scholars unveiled last week, also suggest this recession is the worst in recent history: