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Recession now official

Coincidence or not? | 3:44 a.m. Dec. 2, 2008

Is the publication of the news that we have been in a recession for twelve months two and a half weeks after the national election a coincidence or not?

Why was it not published June or July or August of this year?

Perhaps the powers that be did not want it to have a negative effect on their election?

So typical.

washcomom | 5:42 a.m. Dec. 2, 2008

We all could have told you that! Start saving for another rainy day.

Surprise ! Surprise! | 5:47 a.m. Dec. 2, 2008

As if we needed an "official" announcement. I wonder how long it will take them to officially tell us when we're in a full-blown depression.

Comments continue below

KingM | 6:10 a.m. Dec. 2, 2008

Wow, another recession, and this one steep, you say? Three cheers for Bush economics!

CP | 7:08 a.m. Dec. 2, 2008

I didn't need a news reporter to tell me that. I knew that long before The Secretary of the Treasury announced it! Like DUH!! People can't spend what they don't have! Like the old saying goes, "It's not rocket science" to figure that one out! I just think it's about time that those in the government are now starting to accept it and actually letting the word "Recession" come out of their mouths!

Golly Gee | 7:11 a.m. Dec. 2, 2008

The govt has finally admitted to what they have been denying all along (before the election).

Here is a hint, if you buy I bonds which promice to pay the inflation rate plus a certain interest rate, don't believe it.

The official inflation rate also doesn't own up to reality, it is quite a bit below what the actual inflation rate is.

CITIZEN | 7:27 a.m. Dec. 2, 2008

Sure am glad that we have smart people that let us know when times are hard!!!

MMM | 7:36 a.m. Dec. 2, 2008

now is official??? wow I didnt notice !!! Goverment...thanks for letting us go down with OUR money!!!

Cats | 8:00 a.m. Dec. 2, 2008

For those here who have OBVIOUSLY never had a class in economics--MAY I ENLIGHTEN YOU? Anyone who has had Econ 101 knows that the President has literally almost NOTHING to do with the economy. However, the Bush tax cuts DID help us get out of the recession we were in when Bush took office.

Also, the "powers that be" have NO ability to keep information about the economy embargoed until they decide they want it to get out. So much for some of the silly remarks that have been made here.

A recession is defined as two or more quarters of negative economic growth. We have not had that until the third quarter of 2008. Irgo--we have not been in a "recession" until recently. We were in an economic "slow down."

The Economic cycles exist. There is nothing ANY government can do to stop them. They are based on GLOBAL economic forces. The only thing ANY government can do is to try to make them less severe, IF POSSIBLE. Those in office get either credit or blame even when not justified.

PLEASE PEOPLE--take at least one class in economics so you'll know what you're talking about. PLEASE!

Let's See... | 8:05 a.m. Dec. 2, 2008

A recession is when your neighbor loses his job and a depression is you you lose your job, right?

Telling us now that a recession has been going on for a year is like the air bags in your car deploying minutes AFTER the accident or a doctor telling you that you were pregnant after you gave birth. What good is knowing after the fact?

What else do we know that they haven't told us yet? Will the gas prices go back up after Russia pulls out of Georgia?

Frank | 9:17 a.m. Dec. 2, 2008

Well at least this has a silver lining, if things we'rent too bad for you a year ago they probably arent going to get worse. They say this is the worst recession since 1981. If you lost your job in 81, couldnt find a home, and apples cost you $10 each I guess thats bad. Otherwise I think we'll live and you can still buy that brand new HD-TV this year that you dont need.

Sam | 10:37 a.m. Dec. 2, 2008

KingM---

"Wow, another recession, and this one steep, you say? Three cheers for Bush economics!<<<

It started when the Democrats took over Congress.

Anonymous | 1:41 p.m. Dec. 2, 2008

Cats | 8:00 a.m If you have never studied human behavior. There is a thing called denial. People deny reality if reality conflicts with what they what to believe is true.

RE: Anonymous 1:41 | 4:29 p.m. Dec. 2, 2008

We now know your problem,

what is your point?

CB | 5:00 p.m. Dec. 2, 2008

Seems it took the Democratic Congress a year to put us into a recession and they are continuing to put our economy into a tail-spin that will take us 'who knows where?' With a President of the same mind we have just begun to see the damage they will do to the economy. Lived through the "Brown years" in California and it
took Governor Reagan to put the state back into solvency and capable of regaining a credit rating.

Why? | 5:28 p.m. Dec. 2, 2008

Why would stocks plunge so low in one day after hearing that we're "officially in a recession" So what else is new? Why did this "news" have such a dramatic effect?
By the way, Bush is to blame as well as ALL of congress. No bill hits Bush's desk unless it's passed the Senate and the House. And who has had control over Congress???

Brother Chuck Schroeder | 5:49 p.m. Dec. 2, 2008

The Pelosi-Paulson Model of Crony Capitalism, Predatory Politicians and Micromanaging Bureaucrats - The financial meltdown involved a broad breakdown in personal responsibility, government regulation and financial ethics. Righting such a systemic wrong requires far more than the Pelosi-Paulson model of crony capitalism, predatory politicians and micromanaging bureaucrats. In fact, in the face of the scale of collapse Friedman is describing, throwing trillions of the American peoples' dollars into a cynical, corrupt, unethical system is exactly the wrong thing to be doing. And the scale of the problem we face in the financial world is matched by the scale of the challenges we face in the national security world. The new Obama teams for national security, finance, and the economy should ponder deeply the lessons of Drucker and Halberstam and question whether the theories and principles they are bringing into office are in fact the right solutions for today. What Pelosi and Paulson are proposing to pour into crony capitalism is more than what it would cost to give every American taxpayer a total federal tax holiday for two months.

Thank the do nothing Democrat's for the past 4 years for this Recession and also Obamacon for it to.

Anonymous | 10:43 a.m. Dec. 3, 2008

I've been in a recession since the breakup of a marriage four years ago. You can survive without all the extra indulgences.

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