We are in for more trouble. Things will get worse before they get better…bottom out [by the third quarter], and I firmly expect positive growth by the end of the year. But I firmly think things will get better, and sooner rather than later.

We feel very confident that we have a very good plan and one of the things that it’s designed to prevent is things being bad enough to set off a deflationary spiral.

Right now, I’m quite optimistic.

—Christina Romer, chairwoman of the White House’s Council of Economic Advisers