How Central Banks Re-define "Normal"

Here's a post by Paul Krugman on his NY Times blog that should put a shiver down the back of everyone:

Like others, I’ve been warning that policy makers in the United States are defining normalcy down — accepting high unemployment and below-target inflation as just the way things are. It’s not just an obsession with inflation risks; it’s an abdication of responsibility for the economy, even if prices are falling rather than rising.

The passivity of the Bank of Japan offers an object lesson. The BOJ is now under political pressure? Why? Because it still sees no reason to act after fifteen years of deflation.

Is this a glimpse of the Fed’s future? That’s what I’m afraid of.

Most economists project high unemployement for the US for years. Maybe 15 years is a stretch, but longer than any normal human being would conceive. All because the political right in the US sees a tactic to seize power. Incredible.