America in Recession

You have heard in the news previously that America, along with other nations such as Singapore, Taiwan, Germany, Japan and a whole lot more – have finally declared that they are in a recession. The National Bureau of Economic Research have declared that America is in recession since December 2007 – which means, that America has been suffering a recession for almost a year.

The major indications of a recession is the significant loss of jobs  and the weakening of the stock markets. Indeed, this is another doom and gloom business news for all of us. Honestly, I am looking forward to a bleak 2009 as not only America that will suffer from this recession but the other countries and their economies too. But dont lose hope – its not yet the end of the world. Recession, in my opinion, are economic circumstances that lead us to rethink of what we have been doing lately in our lives – how we spend money and how that impacts our financial health.

Here are some of  the article snippets that I have read over at CNN:

In the midst of a recession, huge job losses are expected to continue for at least several more months. But what really worries economists is that the job market could be slow to recover even when the economy begins to improve.

In the recession that began in December 2007, the economy has shed more than 1.1 million jobs. Economists expect the Labor Department’s monthly employment report to show another 325,000 job losses for November when it is released Friday.

November’s job losses would represent the largest monthly drop in non-farm employment in seven years, if the report meets estimates. A larger decline could represent the biggest monthly drop in more than 26 years.

The unemployment rate is expected to reach 6.8%, which would be the highest since February 1993.

All indications suggest there’s little stopping jobs from continuing to plummet. ADP’s monthly employment reportreport showed private sector payrolls fell in November by 250,000 jobs from the previous month. And according to a by outsourcing agency Challenger, Gray & Christmas, planned job cut announcements by U.S. employers soared to 181,671 last month, the second-highest total on record.

For full CNN article, click here.

Here is another snippet of the other article that I have read about America’s recession:

The National Bureau of Economic Research said Monday that the U.S. has been in a recession since December 2007, making official what most Americans have already believed about the state of the economy .

The NBER is a private group of leading economists charged with dating the start and end of economic downturns. It typically takes a long time after the start of a recession to declare its start because of the need to look at final readings of various economic measures.

The NBER said that the deterioration in the labor market throughout 2008 was one key reason why it decided to state that the recession began last year.

Employers have trimmed payrolls by 1.2 million jobs in the first 10 months of this year. On Friday, economists are predicting the government will report a loss of another 325,000 jobs for November.

The NBER also looks at real personal income, industrial production as well as wholesale and retail sales. All those measures reached a peak between November 2007 and June 2008, the NBER said.

In addition, the NBER also considers the gross domestic product, which is the reading most typically associated with a recession in the general public.

Many people erroneously believe that a recession is defined by two consecutive quarters of economic activity declining. That has yet to take place during this recession.

For full CNN article, click here.

As I have said, recessions are economic circumstances that lead us to rethink about our financial health and how we spend. You have to be conscious in your spending and monitor your expenses. From what I have seen during the times of the credit crunch, the housing mortgage crisis, the huge job cuts and now, the news about recession; the only thing that can help us to survive in this dire times – is the virtue of thriftiness. Dont spend more than you can afford. And dont go for the credit cards too. Credit is still credit – even if it’s in the card.

A significant change in financial lifestyle will definitely help some of the people to recover. Although we keep on hearing about the recession and the doom gloom of the global financial market, dont lose hope. A recession is not forever though, it is a part of an economic cycle – it will not last forever. For now, let us keep optimistic despite this dire times and start living on the virtues of thriftiness and wise money spending. Its not too late to rethink our lives and start making changes gradually.