Window on Washington
News, analysis, color and photography from Cox Newspapers' Washington BureauRSS feed
What's on this page →
The entry titled "Recession? Depression? Neither?," and any of the comments about it.
Categories
| RSS | |
| RSS | |
| RSS | |
| RSS | |
| RSS | |
| RSS | |
| RSS |
Commenting is open from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. M-F
Recent entries
Home > Window on Washington > Archives > 2008 > July > 31 > Entry
Recession? Depression? Neither?
Americans can breathe a sigh of relief. “I think we have avoided a recession,” White House Budget Director Jim Nussle said in a CNBC interview Thursday following the release of a Commerce Department report.
The report showed the economy grew at an annual rate of 0.9 percent in the first quarter and 1.9 percent in the second. A recession is defined as two straight quarters of economic decline.
But during a luncheon speech at the National Press Club, just blocks from the White House, New York Gov. David Paterson offered a very different assessment. He said the country clearly is in a recession. Indeed, he said it is facing challenges as great as those posed by the Great Depression because of massive governmental deficits, large household debts, mortgage foreclosures and other credit problems.
He said he was not impressed by the Commerce statistics that still show growth. After the 1929 stock market crash, President Herbert Hoover didn’t want to take action until more statistics confirmed the depth of the problems, he said. “How did that work out for him?” he asked.
Permalink | Comments (1) | Post your comment | Categories: Washington
Comments
By TeneBypeicope
December 12, 2008 8:42 AM | Link to this
Hi! My name is Jessika!