Economic earthquakes

Susan Hough, a geophysicist with the United States Geological Survey, has written an op-ed piece in today's New York Times about earthquake prediction. In an earlier stage of walking within my life's labyrinth, I was involved in this line of research. Her piece makes interesting and insightful observations. It ends with the following sentences:

"The public would like scientists to predict earthquakes. We can’t do that. We might never be able to do that. What people and government can do is work to make sure our houses, schools and hospitals don’t fall down when the next big one strikes, and that we’re all prepared for the difficult aftermaths. We can look around our homes and our workplace and think about what would happen to them if the terra firma suddenly ceased being firm. We can stop worrying about predicting the unpredictable, and start doing more to prepare for the inevitable."

Imagine replacing the words "scientists" with "economists" and "earthquakes" with "recessions" (or "depressions").