Tuesday, December 2, 2008

Recession: December 2007---???

What Is a Recession?

Common definition: Two consecutive quarterly contractions in gross domestic product, a measure of the output of goods and services.

National Bureau of Economic Research: The semiofficial body that defines the U.S. economic cycle defines a recession as 'a significant decline in economic activity spread across the economy, lasting more than a few months, normally visible in production, employment, real income, and other indicators.

read the WSJ article


My thoughts: We are in a recession according to definition #2, but not definition #1. This tells us take while the this recession is likely to last over 2 years it will not necessarily be as deep as the mid 1970s and early 1980s recessions. However, the unprecedented intervention into Wall Street and the housing market could have serious repercussions in the coming months and years.

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