The Flavors of Recession

As we ring in 2008 with apprehension over the sub prime mortgage crisis and credit crunch that plagued the US economy during the latter half of 2007, the question remains: Is the US economy already in recession?


By: Ringo Bones and Vanessa Uy


One time honored wisdom states that if America sneezes, the rest of the world catches a cold. A colorful phrase used to describe economic recession and the primary reason why the rest of the world lives in fear – especially countries who exports most of their products to the US - every time the US economy heads into a downturn. But come 2008, the question on everyone’s minds still remains: Is the US economy already in recession?

But what is an economic recession? Who decides? For years, the press and the Las Vegas odds-makers had adopted this simple pragmatic definition: When the real Gross National Product (total value of all goods and services, corrected for inflationary price rises) declines for two quarters (6 months) in a row – that is an economic recession. This rough definition is adequate for most purposes, and surely more “refined” than its "blue collar" counterpart which states: When your neighbor looses his job, its only economic slowdown, when you loose your job, it’s a full blown economic recession.

Another definition of economic recession that is formulated by The National Bureau of Economic Research, a prestigious nonprofit organization that has kept the official score on the US economy’s business cycles. The “bureau’s” definition is based on more refined tests and measurements. Yet, for the most part, The National Bureau of Economic Research arrives at the same conclusions as the press and Las Vegas odds-makers did when it applies it’s own definition. Which states: “An economic recession is a recurring period of decline in total output, income, employment, and trade usually lasting six months to a year and marked by widespread fluctuations in the economy.”

As time went on, economist these days had discovered and defined a new species of economic recession called a “mini” or “growth-recession” which the current Bush Administration says best describes on what is happening to the US economy right now. Even though most Americans – especially those under the age of 30 – think that the credit crunch is a new and recent phenomena that only came to life near the end of July 2007. But the credit crunch did happen way before, back in 1966 to 1967, when the American people had to live with a “growth-recession” when a credit crunch curtailed housing starts and shaved 20% off stock prices. A mini or growth-recession is defined as follows: When output and employment grow for half a year or more at significantly less than their average trend rate of growth, an economy is in a “growth-recession”, even if actual growth rates never turn negative.

Even though American billionaire and now the world’s richest man Warren Buffett and the financial firm Merrill Lynch both said that the US economy is already experiencing recession at the start of 2008. The Bush Administration still insists that the US economy is only undergoing a slow down and can be easily cured with an Economic Stimulus Package. Does the Bush Administration dread the use of the “R” word (recession) because they think it will cause widespread panic? But the US economy is indeed now experiencing full blown recession because 2008 jobless rates are at a five year high, home repossessions are on the rise, Wall Street shaky as world markets watch. Plus the price of crude oil and basic foods now at a record high is not helping matters either.

As the US Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke slash interest rates further and the Economic Stimulus Package planned to be increased to 200 billion US dollars - the latest ones in the form of "auctions" that could well undermine a financial firm's credit rating, will all of these measures be able to turn around the ailing US economy from sliding further into a deep recession? It’s a bit iffy, because as the US Federal Reserve makes cheaper still the cost of borrowing money, the “financially inept” – sorry to say – will be driven further into debt. This is so because its primarily due to greed driven foolhardy decisions that drove these people to concoct get rich quick schemes that started all this mess in the first place. Unless an epidemic of “financial enlightenment” sweeps across the United States, bankruptcy courts will be standing room only beginning 2008.