Recession: It's Official Now, We're in It

The group that can officially call when we're in a recession has done so. The Business Cycle Dating Committee of the National Bureau of Economic Research "determined that a peak in economic activity occurred in the U.S. economy in December 2007. The peak marks the end of the expansion that began in November 2001 and the beginning of a recession," says the Wall Street Journal who explains that a "recession is a significant decline in economic activity spread across the economy, lasting more than a few months, normally visible in production, employment, real income, and other indicators. A recession begins when the economy reaches a peak of activity and ends when the economy reaches its trough. Between trough and peak, the economy is in an expansion." (h/t LABO)