Over?

This week, Newsweek’s cover-story by Daniel Gross proclaimed: “The Recession is Over!” But just because we’re likely finished crashing backward doesn’t mean we’re moving forward.

Grossman writes:

…When economists proclaim a recession over, they’re celebrating a technicality: they mean economic output has stopped contracting. And while that is good news, you might wait a while before adding Judy Garland’s rendition of “Happy Days Are Here Again” to your iPod. GDP growth alone can’t feed a family, or pay a mortgage.

The stock market has gained confidence and in June, seven of the 10 leading economic indicators were looking up. But with enormous national debt and thousands still jobless, it looks like we’re in for a long, slow recovery as Americans wonder– has the stimulus failed? What about the green construction and the infrastructure improvements that were going to restore our prosperity.

Grossman concludes:

To a large degree, the U.S. economy must now cope with an era of lower expectations. Road building isn’t a recipe for full employment, green technology won’t displace fossil fuels in this decade, the benefits of universal broadband may be overblown, and the dysfunctional health-care system won’t shift overnight from a headwind to a tailwind. The recession may be over, but there’s likely to be plenty of tough slogging ahead.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, July 28th, 2009 at 8:46 pm and is filed under Recessioncents. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.