Haley Barbour on the economy: Expect a "brief, shallow downturn"

We've actually had a very good economy for the last 25 years. Now we've had an event in the credit markets where, candidly, some of the most respected financial institutions in America created a bunch of investment vehicles they didn't really understand. That concerns me, and I think it will cause a brief, shallow downturn. But when we are talking about a recession with 5% unemployment—if in fact we have a recession—that is starting from an awfully strong economic position. President Bush has proposed the right kind of remedies, and, in fairness, the Democrats in Congress have embraced them, too.

~ Haley Barbour, Republican governor of Mississippi, "Haley Barbour: The GOP Insider on Election 2008," BusinessWeek, February 25, 2008