Recession

From the New York Times:

It's Official: U.S. Economy in Recession

The National Bureau of Economic Research, a panel of academic economists charged with the official designation of business cycles, said that the United States economy has been in recession since December 2007, when economic activity peaked.

And the demand for environmental quality is falling.

Comments

[joshua corning]

By one benchmark, a recession occurs whenever the gross domestic product, the total output of goods and services, declines for two consecutive quarters. The GDP turned negative in the July-September quarter of this year, and many economists believe it is falling in the current quarter at an even sharper rate.

But the NBER's dating committee uses broader and more precise measures, including employment data

If a recession is not big enough then we should change the definition of it to make it look bigger!!

And the demand for environmental quality is falling.

Babylon eating Babylon? The left eat their own children? Chris Dodd and Barney Frank have the biggest carbon footprints in the world? D all of the above?

[Sherry]

Well it is official we are in a recession and have been for the past year. Amazing isn't it. WE seriously need to get on with alternative energy projects and get out from under our dependence on foreign oil. This past year the average family went broke at the pump alone filling up the family vehicles to get back and forth to work. That cost most of between 60-100. per fill-up. Then there was the grocery store where the price of EVERYTHING rose sharply as increased production and shipping costs were passed on to the consumer.So we quit going out to eat so much or at all, put off buying things we wanted or really needed, some even to the point of having no money left for necessary medicines. No one single factor in our economy has ever caused so much damage to society as the high cost of fuel this past year. Yet,little attention has been given to this face. Jobs and homes have been lost at a record rate as the consumer is forced to cut back spending. While we are busy doing the happy dance at the pumps OPEC is working out their strategy to raise the price of a barrel back up to 75-100 per barrel. We need to utilize free sources of energy like wind and solar and new technologies such as plug and hybrid cars. It would cost the equivalent of 60 cents per gallon to charge an electric car at the rate of the average electric bill. That elec could conceivably be generated at least partially from sun or wind power. With bailouts left and right and an economic stimuli's package that cost 168 BILLION and did nothing for our economy...WHY NOT BAIL US OUT OF OUR DEPENDENCE ON FOREIGN OIL? That money would have gone a LONG WAY toward getting some alternative energy projects set up. Jeff Wilson has a great new book out called The Manhattan Project of 2009 Energy Independence NOW.

[odograph]

I can't fit $20 of gas in my Prius anymore. To be honest, that seems low enough.

[pays to live green]

If anybody didn't know we were in a recession at this point, I don't know where they have been. The price of gas is low, but that doesn't make the situation any better nor does it really help our country get away from fossil fuels. Let's just hope that our country gets out of this recession with little to no more damage.

[Charles Sifers]

The Left eats its own...truer words were never spoken.

News flash, there is no alternative to oil right now. All the wind and solar we could bu we could build (if th Kennedy's and other Leftys would allow it NIMBY, indeed) wouldn't make a dent in our energy demands, and just how do you expect people to pay for an over-priced electric vehicle who's manufacture does more damage to the environment, than any oil based vehicle?

[odograph]

The internets are interesting. It's hard nowadays to say you've never seen a report, so you just have to say you don't believe it.

Here's one:

Solar Company Says Its Tech Can Power 90 Percent of Grid and Cars

Lots of people don't believe them, but most of that time it's just that human nature ... slow to come around.

I think the reasonable answer to such claims is "give it a shot." It doesn't take much to do a pilot plant, or even a few generations of pilot plants.

(and luckily Charles, Mr. Kennedy does not live in the Mojave.)

[joshua corning]

Well it is official we are in a recession and have been for the past year.

You are pure idiot.

I like how a new group can change the definition of what a recession is arbitrarily then randomly declare it and somehow it is now "official".

Now we can hear all the talking heads conflate this new definition of what a recession is then declare it the worst one since WW2 even though they are comparing this newly defined recession with previous recessions which were measured with a different yard stick.