WHY is the "recession" over?

[Truth Talks]

Since at least last fall, the corporate media (as if there's any other kind) have been consistently under-reporting our economic crisis. They insist it's just a mild recession that will magically disappear under St. Obama, then are forced to revise their prognosis a month or two later. It's now predicted that the official unemployment rate will reach or exceed 10% by the end of 2009.

Yet the media are now telling us that the recovery is under way, some suggesting the recession is already over. But why? Is it another bald-faced lie, or are they at least hinting at the truth this time?

If the media continue this game of gloss-over-the-truth-then-retreat, their cedibility is going to take a major hit. If we accept a lag time between economic improvement and increasing emplpoyment, then maybe the media are more or less telling the truth.

Or maybe they're essentially acknowledging what the U.S. Chamber of Commerce has long known: The recovery is going to be hard to recognize as a recovery; we'll essentially remain downsized for the rest of our lives.

Another possibility: The media are just buying time. They know the shit's going to hit the fan, but they want to maintain their feelgood campaign a little longer.

I think next holiday season will give us a much clearer picture of where the economy's headed. And if it's really, really bad, it will be interesting to see how the public and media react. I almost hope the news is disastrous when considering the alternative - being stuck in limbo with a pissy economy that never resolves itself.

So what's the truth about Great Depression II, and why are the media again telling us our problems are over?

[TheKentuckian]

1. GDP stops contracting?

This is a measurement that has little to nothing to do with how the average citizen is faring.

[masuki bance]

2. St. Obama? Nice try. nt

[Egalitariat]

3. The recession is over when GDP stops shrinking. That may be the case already, but

nobody knows. Job growth ALWAYS lags the start of the recovery because 1) nobody knows when the economy has begun to grow until well after it's true, and 2) every business around tries to do more with less for as long as they can. When the growth sneaks up on them, which is the way it always works, they are forced to start hiring again. And then you see unemployment come down.

[SleeplessInAlabama]

4. Because CNBC's coke-fiending, portfolio-losing staff said so.... n/t

[Warpy]

5. Our media people are protected from the truth by their fat paychecks

and as long as their investments are recovering and they're not trying to sell their houses, everything's just peachy.

The media and the government will be equally astonished if the Xmas season is as dismal as it looks like it will be now.

[peace frog]

6. It isn't

.

[Odin2005]

7. Or maybe you need to understand the definition of a recession.

The end of a recession is the START of a recovery, so things will still suck if the recovery is slow, like it was in the mid 30s.

[valerief]

8. I guess enough really rich people got their bailout money to replace the money they lost. nt

[Deja Q]

9. I don't entirely agree with you, but I don't see why it's worthy of all the unrecs either...

At least I'm mature enough to actually say I disagree with you.

The media is one-dimensional: They report what they see in the here and now. The past, and the future, and concepts as foreign as ethics and objectivity are these days.

[nadinbrzezinski]

10. Leading indicators, by the way employment is a trailing one

[gleaner]

11. It's not over...

but I don't think it is a blame the media issue. I don't like the media and their conservative slant and it would be very convenient for the conservatives if all of the crap Bush left us would just disappear.

There was a terrible recession under Carter too, and eventually we scraped ourselves out of that one as well. We did not remain "downsized" forever. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce tends to see things from a helping out business point of view, like most Chambers of Commerce. It would be very helpful to the conservatives if all of us protesting the economy would shut up and just make do with less while the rich stand staus quo with more. If that fails, blame the media. I have never heard anyone in the media say our troubles are over. I have heard them say that the trend line in the economy is "hopeful." Since I don't believe much of what they say, I look to other sources and decide for myself.

Also how is the next holiday season going to be a big final indicator? People are going to be cautious about spending for a long, long time. The money is not there. The jobs are not there. Homes are losing their value, so that financial cushion is gone for the present too. Blaming reporters for that is like shooting the messenger. This all goes back to the Bush administration, their fiscal policies and lack of responsibilty in letting profiteers buy and sell this country. It is their responsibilty and that is where the buck stops.

[madrchsod]

12. it`s not over by a long shot.....

it`s going to be a long really bad recession

[Coes]

13. bankster bonuses

The "recession" is over because the banksters can pocket those big bonuses again. It's not difficult to spend a minor scraping of that exuberant bonus on some of the MSM pundits to have them telling to the public the... well... truth ( not? ): for the banksters, this recession is over, because the bonuses are rolling into the pockers again.