Archive

Coming Recession Worse Than the Last?

Economy

Economic indicators point toward pain ahead.

cheats/2011/08/08/coming-recession-worse-than-the-last/wall-street-economic-wrap_nyvfli
Mario Tama / Getty Images

President Obama and his economic team really have their work cut out for them: If the U.S. economy returns to a recession, it could be a lot more painful than the last one. (The one we call The Great Recession.) That, as The New York Times points out, is because economic indicators are at a much worse starting point because they have not recovered from the previous blow. Unemployment is at 9.1 percent as compared with 5 percent in December 2007; industrial production is 8 percent lower than it was in December 2007; and the overall economy is, in fact, smaller than it was four years ago. Corporate America, meanwhile, is sitting on $2 trillion in cash, according to the New York Post.

Read it at The New York Times

Got a tip? Send it to The Daily Beast here.