Recession Didn’t End & Don’t Call This A Recession

Monty Pelerin / EconomicNoise.com

James Pethokoukis is the Money & Politics columnist-blogger for the American Enterprise Institute. He is insightful and a good of economic analysis for the laymen interested in  economics. He writes well and delivers data in easy to process form. In short, he should be a must-read for those wanting to  our economic situation.

In his latest post he states:

America is not stuck in a sluggish or disappointing economic recovery. It’s in the middle of an economic emergency with more trouble on the way. And it’s time for Washington to start acting like it.

His take is one that I am sympathetic with. In effect, he is stating that we are not in a cyclical downturn but something bigger and more nasty than that. We are in a long-term secular decline, sometimes referred to as a structural decline.

The idea that the recession ended in June of 2009 is a cruel hoax on the American public. Regardless of how you want to describe what is afflicting this economy, it did not end in June of 2009. Many economic metrics have gotten worse since the recession “ended.” Mr. Pethokoukis provides  on eight of these and his list is not fully inclusive. For example, he doesn’t touch upon median income declining more rapidly after the recession than during the recession, or the decline in net worth, etc.

To appreciate why we are not out of the recession (or more properly, why we are in something much bigger and worse than a recession), read his article. Anyone claiming this economy is improving or on the right track should be forced to respond to this article.

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