Well, can you believe that there are only 2 weeks left in 2008? What a year for the world economy? As many economists will state, the world is in a deepening global recession. This could be the worst crisis since the Great Depression. A few weeks ago, The National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) announced that the US has been in a recession since December 2007. The unemployment rate sits at 6.7%, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). It seems each industry is being hit with layoffs, and it is challenging the consumer tremendously. For the consumer, confidence in the economy is quite low as well. Just look at the latest consumer confidence report which shows the index stands at 44.9. Finally, GDP in the 3rd quarter of 2008 was -0.5% and it will be probably negative for the 4th quarter. This is your classic definition (2 consecutive quarters of negative GDP) of a recession. So, how does the economy continue to avoid the road to economic perdition? I think the US consumer is looking for the right government people (Barack Obama, Ben Bernanke, Tim Geithner, etc.) to lead them out of this recession. Let's hope that 2009 is a year of better economic times! Remember that January 20, 2009 is the end of an error, not an era!
No comments:
Post a Comment