It was the best of times. It was the worst of times.

“If you ask me, there isn’t much suspense in this year’s election: barring some extraordinary mistakes, Mr. Obama will win. Assuming he wins, the real question is what he’ll make of his victory.”

Paul Krugman in Friday’s column.

Krugman also says “If the current housing slump runs on the same schedule, we won’t be seeing a recovery until 2011 or later.”

And he predicts a slow rebound from the current recession: “If the current slump follows the typical modern pattern, the economy will stay depressed well into 2010, if not beyond …”.