More Evidence That the Recession Has Already Arrived

Interesting report from the Chicago Fed. From what I've been reading, including this report, it appears that we've basically been in a recession most of the year. The issue now is that the credit problems are pushing it deeper. The good news is that oil prices are dropping, which will help hasten a recovery. The other keys are getting the credit problems fixed and getting home prices to bottom out. Then we can start recovering. Easier said than done....

"The Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago maintains an index, called the National Activity Index, which in the past has nearly always signaled the beginning of a recession when it fell to a certain level, shown as negative 0.7 in the accompanying chart. It hit that level last December, and has stayed there since. This week, the Fed released the reading for September, which was the worst for a single month since 1982 and a sign that the recession is deepening." Off the Charts - More Evidence That the Recession Has Already Arrived - NYTimes.com