Recession Over.....
Friday, November 20, 2009 at 11:58AM Reading the headlines across online news sources today I found some conflicting reports. Many confirm that the recession is over! Wall Street seems to be doing quite well with the Dow Jones sitting happily at just over 10,000 points and firms reporting a stable recovery (top executives are even taking home bonuses higher than they were a few years ago). However, this month unemployment is up in 29 states and 13 sit above the national average of 10.2%. A record number of mortgages, 9.64%, are delinquent, mostly in California and Florida. This begs the question: what standards do we use to assess the health of our economy? The stimulus package has had a noticeable impact on the financial markets but those living on Main Street are still suffering. Perhaps this is all part of the ebb and flow of the economy (we have suffered worse recessions) but one might wonder at what cost to the average citizen are we willing to resuscitate a seemingly flawed system?
Reader Comments (1)
You know, sitting through my undergrad, I constantly heard that the stock market did not represent the real economy from my econ professors. Some of them would quip, "what does Wall Street produce?" Well, I will have to say the return of the stock market certainly has not translated into jobs! I never fully understood what my professors meant with their comments. Maybe the current situation demonstrates their point exactly.