links for September 17th 2008

Sent in by Dan Jackson around 09/17/08.

There isn’t any recession. - "There isn't any recession. The latest figures show that we clearly were not in one as of midsummer, whether you use the rule-of-thumb definition - two consecutive quarters of GDP shrinkage - or the looser concept of a sustained and significant economic decline.
The economy shrank marginally (-0.2%) in the fourth quarter of 2007, but otherwise it's been growing steadily for years. In the most recent quarter it grew at a vigorous 3.3%, fueled not by government stimulus checks but by a strong rise in net exports.

Consider the 1992 election: The last recession had been over for 18 months, and President George H.W. Bush campaigned by asserting that the economy was growing smartly. But the psychological recession, stoked back then by corporate restructuring, was still going strong. Bill Clinton understood that and campaigned by telling voters he felt their pain. Bush was right, but Clinton won."