Recession, or Depression?
Saturday, August 1st, 2009Here is wikipedia’s short definition of what a depression is:
“In economics, a depression is a sustained, long downturn in one or more economies. It is more severe than a recession, which is seen as a normal downturn in the business cycle. Considered a rare and extreme form of recession, a depression is characterized by abnormal increases in unemployment, restriction of credit, shrinking output and investment, numerous bankruptcies, reduced amounts of trade and commerce, as well as highly volatile relative currency value fluctuations, mostly devaluations. Price deflation or hyperinflation are also common elements of a depression.”
I think this definition describes a lot of what we’ve seen these past few months. This recession certainly has been a record breaker in many areas. It just doesn’t seem like the normal garden variety recession. Watch it be labeled as something closer to a depression when all is said and done.
