Call it a recession, already

Έξι με οχτώ μήνες ακόμα για την επίσημη ανακοίνωση;;;

Nearly 1.2 million jobs have been lost this year. The unemployment rate is at its highest level since 1994. Retail sales were dismal last month and for automakers, October was the worst month in more than a quarter-century.
But guess what? The United States is still not officially in a recession.
That's because a recession is only defined by a group of academics called the National Bureau of Economic Research.
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According to the NBER's Web site, a recession "is a significant decline in economic activity spread across the economy, lasting more than a few months, normally visible in real GDP, real income, employment, industrial production, and wholesale-retail sales."
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"To some degree, the announcement of a recession is a non-event. But perversely it may be good news, especially if they date the start back to the end of 2007, because it may send the message that mathematically we could be closer to the end," said Liz Ann Sonders, chief investment strategist with Charles Schwab & Co., Inc.
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http://money.cnn.com/2008/11/07/markets/thebuzz/index.htm