NBER Announces Recession is OVER! (last year!)

Tell that to the American People!

From the NBER: "The Business Cycle Dating Committee of the National Bureau of Economic Research met yesterday by conference call. At its meeting, the committee determined that a trough in business activity occurred in the U.S. economy in June 2009. The trough marks the end of the recession that began in December 2007 and the beginning of an expansion. The recession lasted 18 months, which makes it the longest of any recession since World War II. Previously the longest postwar recessions were those of 1973-75 and 1981-82, both of which lasted 16 months."

It's Official Now! We're In a Recession!

The National Bureau of Economic Research, the non-partisan group of economists that determines economic cycles, today officially announced that the United States began a recession in December 2007. The official announcement always arrives in a belated manner because the nature of the data only permits economists to analyze and recognize a recession after it has begun. This may seem like just a semantic technicality, since most people already acknowledge that the United States is in a recessionary period. However, the NBER is the group that makes the designation official. Therefore, there can no longer be any debate about whether it is a fact. It is a fact!

Here is a story on Forbes about the announcement.