GOOD
hard at work
- March 4, 2009 • 7:59 pm PST
- + responses
This is, you've heard,
re•ces•sion |ri'se sh ?n|
A recession is most simply defined as two consecutive yearly quarters of reduction in GDP. In the United States, a think tank called the National Bureau of Economic Research determines, after the fact, whether or not we are in a recession.
de•pres•sion |de'pre sh ?n|
There is no official definition, but general consensus requires GDP to decline by 10 percent or more, and the economic slump to last three or more years. Suffice it to say, we aren't there yet.
Recessions might feel all doomy and gloomy, but they're also times of great innovation. All of the following wondrous things were created, perfected, or completed during recessions or depressions: the Empire State Building, the Sears Tower, the U.S.A. trilogy by John Dos Passos, Social Security, Scotch tape, the Polaroid Corporation, FM radio, the modem, New Wave music, MS-DOS, the iPod, and the artificial heart.
