joining me now from washington david leonhardt of the "new york times". he writes the weekly column economic scene. this month he was awarded a pull itser prize in the commentary category. he was cited for quote his graceful penetration of america's complicated economic questions from the federal budget deficit-- deficit to health-care reform. i'm pleased to have him back on this program. welcome. >> thank you, charlie. >> rose: i want to turn first to the gdp numbers. is this seen as a temporary aberration or as a trend? >> the honest answer is no one knows. chairman bernanke described it essentially as a temporary aberration. and i go think that's the most likely explanation. but i don't think it's the only possible explanation. and so i think the odds that, in fact, we are in something more serious are really uncomfortably high right now. and bernanke talked about the weather. he talked about various one-time factors. and all those were factors. but the fact is that recoveries from financial crises are slow. they're uneven. they can often be ended or k