Payroll data: Yeah, we're in a recession
Can we stop saying now that financial troubles "might" tip us into a recession? As this morning's employment numbers (and a lot of other data in recent days) make clear, we're in a recession. I'm still betting that the arbiters of such things will eventually decide we've been in a weird, mild recessiony kind of thing since last fall. Now the weird and mild (and the y) appear to be disappearing. We're in a recession. The question that remains is how bad it's going to be.
-
1
There are at least two questions remaining: how severe and how long will this recession be.
From my comfortable armchair, we've been deferring a recession since about 1995 through one unsustainable scheme or another. Now that that long-avoided discomfort is inevitable, will our monetary policy be to take the pain quickly and get through the contraction, or will we drag it out for years or decades by trying to come up with another scheme?
Several kinds of investments need to finish failing before we're through this. Housing prices need to finish correcting. All investments derivative of those crazy house prices need to follow. This includes the bankruptcy proceedings of a very large number of overextended American homeowners.
Most Popular »
- Tennessee Mayor Accuses Barack Obama Of Hating On Charlie Brown, Peanuts
- Wii Fit Plus Review
- Obama Shifts Date of Copenhagen Visit
- NV Sen Poll: Reid In Trouble
- The PlayStation Turns 15, We Reminisce
- 'Forgotten Man' II: Two-Thirds of Jobless Blue-Collar
- 135 Money-Saving Resources and Tips, Special Holiday Season Edition
- False Economy: Think You're Saving Money? Think Again
- Twitter App Showdown: Echofon Pro vs Tweetie 2
- Loving The Joke
- How Strong Is the Evidence Against Amanda Knox?
- Will Federal Spending Mistrust Mean the End of Obama's Audacity
- Hate Your Job? Here's How to Reshape It
- Amanda Knox, Convicted of Murder in Italy
- India, Pakistan and the Battle for Afghanistan
- Nicolas Sarkozy: A French Paradox
- Amanda Knox Testifies: The Murder Trial That Has Gripped Italy
- Helicopter Parents: The Backlash Against Overparenting
- Astronomers Spot Planet-Like Object GJ 758 B in Orbit
- Foxy Knoxy Case Still Roils Italy













RSS