WASHINGTON — The 2007-2009 recession, already in the record books as the worst in the 66 years since the end of World War II, was even worse than previously thought.
From the start of the recession at the end of 2007 to the end in June of 2009, the U.S. economy shrank 5.1 percent. That is 1 percentage point worse than the previous estimate that the recession reduced total output during that period by 4.1 percent.
The new estimates emerged from the annual revision of economic data prepared by the Commerce Department’s Bureau of Economic Analysis and released Friday.
Among the previous 10 postwar recessions, output in only two dropped by more 3 percent. In the 1957-58 recession, the economy contracted 3.7 percent. And during the 1973-1975 downturn, the economy fell 3.2 percent from the start of the recession to the end.
The government attributed the bigger declines in output in part to weaker consumer spending and business investment than previously estimated.
Oh, you mean the kind of thing a REAL STIMULUS PACKAGE would have helped? Who the hell listens to a bunch of dirty hippies, anyway?
Hmmm…I was complaining about my DFH status just yesterday.
Anyhoo, I’ve had to explain to several people now why this depression doesn’t look quite as bad as those black-and-white photos of the thirties. Social Security, food stamps, and Medicare/Medicaid are the only reasons people aren’t dying on the streets; those nasty liberal socialist programs didn’t exist in 1931. So our government wants to cut those programs too, and give everyone a real grapes of wrath moment.
Oh, and “2007-2009 recession”? Don’t make me laugh. It hasn’t ended, and hasn’t got any better, and isn’t a recession.