Happy Official U.S. Recession Day, Losers!
Not that you'd know it from the collapse of real estate, manufacturing, finance, retail and basic employment, but America is now officially in a Recession! In the third quarter of this wretched year of Our Lord -- which doesn't even include the 1929-style stock market collapse this month -- the economy shrunk by .03%. Not outrageously terrible, as the never-ever-correct people known as economists predicted a half-percent contraction, but it's still the worse since Our Terrorized Quarter of 9/11. Never forget!
Consumer spending, that perpetually unsatisfied engine of America that makes up two-thirds of U.S. economic activity, fell by 3.1%. Nowthat'sa serious number, if you like numbers. The last time quarterly consumer spending actually dropped, we were in a magic time known as the 1991 recession. And the last time consumer spending dropped so steeply,it was 1980.
"Disposable personal income," officially known as "walking around money" plunged 8.7%, the biggest drop since 1947.
Of course, some assholes will perpetually argue that we're not in a True Recession, as we haven't had some asshole's specific definition of a recession perfectly honored by the government GDP reports. (By "some assholes," of course, we always mean Larry Kudlow. ) The only reason the government GDP reports haven't shown two consecutive steep declines in economic activity is because the government has beenprinting moneyat an obnoxious, enormous pace for more than a year straight -- economic stimulus checks, Bear Stearns, the Fannie Mae/Freddie Mac takeover, AIG, and the whole open-ended "$700 billion" bad-securities buyout that has metamorphosed into a $2 trillion bank buyout.
Or, in Reuters' words, "More spending by the government partly offset a sharp retreat by consumers."
Stocks are up a little today, because come on, who doesn't know this?
Economy shrank in third quarter as consumers retreat [Reuters]