I don't think that the world economy was as close to the edge of another Great Depression last summer as the authors of the _Time_ article think that it was, or that we are as far away now as the authors of the _Time_ article think that we are, or that--don't get me wrong, Alan, Robert, Larry, Janet, Michel, Stanley did a good job--any three people's actions did as much to move the world economy away from the cliff as the authors of the _Time_ article think.
And if I had been writing the article, I would have focused on the weaknesses: a bunch of European central bankers who seem absolutely clueless about what their job is, a Japanese governing elite that seems intent on pushing its economy into depression, global institutions of economic management that are vastly underfunded given the magnitude and irrationality of swings in speculative capital flows, a president who doesn't pay attention (except in crisis, or when he wants to distract attention from other things), congressional leaders who believe that the IMF and the World Bank are dangerous because they do the work of Karl Marx, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera.
That aside, it was not a bad article...
:-)
Brad DeLong