The Economist remains uncompromised in my view. Maybe out of touch though. Another reason for more vigourous debate. I still think all these troubles are just engineering problems to be solved. I relish the task.
I think most honest economists would tell you that economists have never been very good at predicting the future. They can do a pretty good job of explaining the why of the past and how markets work, but there are too many factors, either known or unknown that always come into play. But people really want predictions, which is why you get headlines like this one.