Confirmed: U.S. in a Recession (Since Dec. 2007!)

Photograph by jayKayEss on Flickr

The private research organization the National Board of Economic Research says its economists have confirmed the U.S. is in a recession--and has been in on since December 2007. The Daily News adds, "What will they tell us next - that oxygen is good for the lungs?!"

You can read the full text of the NBER statement here, but here's an excerpt:

The committee determined that a peak in economic activity occurred in the U.S. economy in December 2007. The peak marks the end of the expansion that began in November 2001 and the beginning of a recession. The expansion lasted 73 months; the previous expansion of the 1990s lasted 120 months.

CNN Money has a graphic showing the length of previous recessions: The July 1990-March 1991 recession lasted 8 months, as did the March 2001-Nov. 2001 one, but the 1981-1982 recession lasted 16 months. And the White House, which has avoided using the term recession, said about the news, "What's important is what is being done about it. The most important things we can do for the economy right now are to return the financial and credit markets to normal, and to continue to make progress in housing, and that's where we'll continue to focus."

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By Jen Chung in News on December 1, 2008 2:24 PM

Comments [rss]

Shinobi Shaw

#6 oh yes, THEY are either going to release a Bird flu pandemic or start a war with a foreign power (Russia, Sudan, Pakistan are among the many candidates).

Hey, they need anything they can use to keep the MASSIVE SHEEPLE asleep from their economy being pillaged and raped.

But that's alright, keep drinking your fluoride water and take your mercury filled vaccines SLAVE!

r1b2

Stocking up on canned goods

blablanyc

This is beyond a recession. We've been through recessions before without the Big 3 auto makers going under and without 171 banks on the FDIC "problem" list. God help us.

Future Taliban

"Confirmed: U.S. in a Recession (Since Dec. 2007!)"

Confirmed: U.S. joins ranks of penniless Third World Shitholes(since January 21, 2001)

NannyState

Will the NBER let us know when they plan to declare a depression so I can make plans to tape CSI Miami?

Spirit of 76

But isn't it just a "mental recession"? That's what Gramm says.

Bottomless Chips

I wonder how long will it take them to admit we are heading into a HYPERINFLATIONARY DEPRESSION by 2010-2012? What? By 2016?!

Exactly.

We've increased our money supply at record rates. Yet, the MSM and morons claim deflation. The classical sense of the word defines deflation as decreasing the money supply, which is the opposite of what we're doing.

Prices coming down is not deflation; it's lack of demand being realized with decreased prices.

ed_Extinct

bird flu is next.. .that or a massive nuclear war with someone who's ready to f*ck with us.

FrankMartin

Hah, that's funny Future Taliban. I just watched a documentary about being a woman in places like Afghanistan. No taxi needed to get to the dark side.

Shinobi Shaw

And THE SKY IS BLUE?! You don't say!?

I wonder how long will it take them to admit we are heading into a HYPERINFLATIONARY DEPRESSION by 2010-2012? What? By 2016?!

Idiots.

bagelman

in other breaking news, there were no WMDs in iraq

Future Taliban

I just finished watching "Taxi to the Dark Side" a movie about how you American war criminals torture & murder innnocent people and right now I'm hoping your recession becomes a depression and then you all catch Bubonic Plague and drop dead. Azzholes.