Are we in recession??

Question

are we in recession or just an economic slow down. some say we are some say we are not. I believe we are. According the definition of recession there has to be a loss of GDP for two consecutive quarters...has there been a loss of GDP?? I don't know much about economics but Im trying to learn more....

Answer 1

Joseph, II:

Your answer, instead of edifying the Yahoo Answers Community, commits many logical fallicies, and is nothing more than a call for conspiracy to further your political agenda.

You first implicate the President of fabricating a definition of recession for purposes you don't include based on his salary of $200,000 a year. This may sound like alot to the average American, but considering the copious responsibility inherent in the President's job, and the fact that, adjusted for inflation, this president makes alot less than most of History's presidents, and still more that if the president were in it for the money he would not be president but would be working in the corporate world making alot more, our President's $200,000 salary is insignificant. (Sorry for the exhasting sentence).

You then precede to implicate that Economists bias there research because they make $100,000 a year. I don't see the logic here. If they always said the economy was Hunky Dory, they wouldn't have a job. Also, their are alot of Economists out there not doing it for the money, they are doing it because they have a passion for Economics. Most people don't devote 8 years or more of thier life to rigorous study for $100,000 a year. Thier are better alternatives, that require less work.

Next, and this is the great one, your characterize the entire economy as a broken, beaten, and dying entity, based entirely on a fictitious story story about a neighbor who has two jobs. I think enough is said here.

The only reason I went to all this trouble to expose the logical fallacy inherent in your answer is because it is dangerous to believe this c**p. Alot of people read these answers and become dumber for doing so.

Answer 2

A recession doesn't necessarily mean that out country is making a lower GDP. In fact our GDP has risen 1.9% as of the end of this quarter. People may argue that we have fallen behind and are in a recession because of this lower then usual GDP rise when countries such as Japan are experiencing 4% increases in their GDP. This is not true however because the base GDP of the United States is roughly 13.5 trillion dollars where as i believe Japans is around 4.5 trillion a 2% increase on 13.5 trillion is more then a 4% increase on 4.5, therefore more money has been made by the United States. Basically the United States may be facing problems such as an enormous external debt and a terrible housing crunch but there is currently no recession, just a slower period of growth. (I'm a 2nd year college business major currently taking a couple economics classes.)

Answer 3

WHO do You want to Define, "Recession" ? Mr. Bush (who's making $200,000 a year as President & doesn't have a CARE in the WORLD about money)? An Economist (most of whom make over $100,000 a Year)?? -Or your Neighbor across the Street, who's working TWO jobs, is behind in His Credit Card payments, is about to foreclose on his Home, & has JUST decided He CAN'T afford the Gas to get back & forth from Work- anymore..??? YOUR "Guess"- is as GOOD as ANY of Theirs !  :)

Answer 4

It depends on how you define recession and how you count your figures.  You can define recessions as well by decline in real GDP per capita.  Using nominal figures is just the old school way of doing it.  Our government routinely manipulates inflation figures by changing definitions.  So people don't actually agree on what our real rates of growth are in this country when you get to the finer points.  Some say inflation has been above 5 percent a year for the past 2 years so we've already been in a recession and just didn't know it till the housing market meltdown and subsequent declines on Wall Street.  Bottom line, people's incomes are no longer rising with prices, so we're in a recession.  The nominal figures in the U.S. can't help but go up, that's just how things are here.

Answer 5

no we are not officially in recession as of now.

Answer 6

The real GDP grew .6% in the forth quarter of 2007 and .9% in the first quarter of 2008. Second quarter data will not be out until next month. Since the  population grows  more than that, the GDP per capita is declining.

Answer 7

A recession is defined as two consecutive quarter of negative GDP growth rates. From a purely economic point of view, as this has not taken place in the US economy as of yet, currently, the American economy is going through a period of "economic slowdown"

In layman terms, or rather. bloggers and reporters who know not the definition of a recession, and think that a small peak in oil prices automatically leads to a nation-wide recession, the economy is suffering from a recession

Answer 8

of course you are in recession (me too, but i'm italian)

After years of crazy financial bubble, after years of crazy houses bubble and after years of credit cards in the hands of stupid people, how couldn't you be in a recession?

But the recession is also here in europe.

The capitalistic model of economy is over, the globalization without rules is over, we need a big change in the next years and then the economy will retsrt to grow.