2009-04-02

Better Definitions for Recession and Depression

In 2008, more than 2 million Americans lost their jobs. In Feb 2009 alone, more than 651,000 jobs were lost.

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In spite of all this financial bad news, it took a year for economists to figure out that we were in a recession.

I wonder how long it will take for them to declare a depression.

Obviously we need better definitions of recession and depression - or at least better economists!

Personally, I have a simple definition of recession and depression.

To quote the old saying:
If your neighbor loses his job we are in a recession. If I lost my job, we are in a depression.