Krugman: Today's Economy Cross Between Dot-Com Bust and S&L Crisis "On one side," writes Paul Krugman at the New York Times, "the bursting of the housing bubble is playing the role that the bursting of the dot-com bubble played in 2001. On the other, the subprime crisis is creating a credit crunch reminiscent of the crunch after the savings-and-loan crisis of the late 1980s, which led to recession in 1990."