"Number one, we need a larger stimulus. That's not a popular thing to say and congress probably wouldn't approve such a thing. But the Fed has got to continue to pump a lot of money into the system. And we have to continue to run large deficits for a while." -- Robert Reich, professor at the University of California, Berkeley, and former U.S. secretary of labor

"The states are not, by their constitutions, allowed to run deficits. So they have to either cut services or raise taxes. Both moves slow the economy. The size of the shortfalls at the state and local level are staggering because revenues are down, while demands for public services are up, given the economy. So, the real challenge is: How can the administration help the states without going back to congress and seeking more stimulus? There may be ways for the federal government to absorb more Medicaid payments in the short term. Perhaps lending the states additional funds, perhaps helping with the states' bonding authorities. But all of that is probably not enough." -- RR

"Our biggest long-term problem, which we should address during this transition, is that we're going to have to export more to service the debt we've sold and are going to sell. Consumption growth has to slow down. We have to invest more to export more. That's the very opposite of what [the administration is] doing." -- Allan H. Meltzer, professor of political economy at Carnegie Mellon University

"Well, things are not getting better. They're just getting worse at a slower rate. I've dealt with journalists for many years, and they have a hard time distinguishing levels and rates of change. Distinguishing between first and second derivatives. That seems to be beyond their ability. They see the unemployment rate is falling less rapidly and they interpret that as a sign of recovery." -- AM

Western Europe

The recession, as in the United States, seems to be lifting overall, but the diversity of Western Europe's economies makes generalization hard. Countries with large stimulus plans, like Britain, will have shorter, lighter recessions. Exporters and countries with smaller stimulus plans, like Germany, might emerge later and face slower recovery.

"Europe, as a whole in some average sense is bottoming out. But there's less evidence of that than there is the United States. Clearly, there's a lot of differentiation there." -- Edwin Truman, senior fellow at the Peterson Institute of International Economics

"We're past the point of criticizing countries for not doing enough stimulus -- they don't need more stimulus at this point. Everything's pointing in the right direction. Assuming no further catastrophes, I think the question of stimulus is in the past now. One can have disagreements about how much more stimulus there should have been or how fast it should be removed. But we're on a second order of questions now.

"But, I think you can be critical, even if it's second- or third-order at this point. I think [Germany] should have done quite a bit more, and not been so stingy and free-riding on the rest of the world. But that's bygones. The recession will end and the economy will recover. The worst is largely behind us." -- ET

Eastern Europe and Russia

Emerging economies in Eastern Europe -- particularly those with high current-account deficits before the recession hit, like Latvia -- face an extremely difficult road. Their recession is not over, and recovery will be difficult. Growth will be depressed on a longer trajectory than in Western Europe. The region will likely require additional help from the International Monetary Fund. Political instability might well continue.

"We've seen clearly in this crisis that Russia is dominated by oil too much. It's as simple as that. [Among the BRIC economies], Russia is the weak one of the four. They have to diversify away from oil and improve their demographics. But, I think there are some modest examples of that developing. But if oil prices continue to rebound, [the government] needs to continue to address those fundamental problems." -- JO

"There will be problems down the road. I suspect that the IMF has not reached its peak in terms of lending and new programs, because of their role and the nature of the crisis. There will be countries that are affected by a lag in the recession in many parts of the world, and in Eastern Europe. Even today, you saw an opposition candidate in Bulgaria saying that they maybe Bulgaria needs to seek IMF stimulus." -- ET