Finally! The US has owned up to a recession.

It has been a long time coming but it looks as though the US is finally owning up to an economic recession.  According to the US National Bureau of Economic Research the US entered a recession in December 2007.   It does not forecast the length of the recession, however, data suggest that the slowdown is gathering pace, eg US manufacturing output is falling at the fastest rate since 1982. And revised figures for US GDP show that it fell by 0.5% in the third quarter of 2008.

It is healthy that this admission has been made as it will help remove lingering uncertainty that an economic contraction is underway and businesses and administrations can focus on managing the situation.  The valuation of assets will have the freedom to bottom out, thus allowing a clearing of the market.

But make no mistake.  Life will not be easy.  This is a complex economic dislocation requiring cooperation at all levels from global to national to local to neighbourhood.  In order to lessen the pain we will have to change much of our behaviour and expectations.  In order to avoid similar volatility we will have to completely change human management systems and adopt more natural based models.  In essence our new systems must reflect values based on success without growth.

See BBC US recession ‘began last year’

See NYT Officials Vow to Act Amid Forecasts of Long Recession

See NYT The Longest Recession Since …