Dude, There Went Your Recession?
Matt Drudge links to a Yahoo! article noting that after only four consecutive quarters of negative growth, we’ve finally had one whole quarter in which growth was positive. As is his wont, Drudge
throws in a misleading headline of his own that goes far beyond anything stated in the linked article. In this case, the heading is “Economy grows in Q3, unofficially ends recession…” Apparently, for Drudge, it takes two consecutive quarters of recession before the recession really counts as a recession, but only one consecutive quarter of non-recession to end it. Really?
I hereby declare Matt Drudge an idiot. Unofficially, of course.
November 16th, 2009 at 12:14 am
No going to argue the idiot part, but maybe he suspects the numbers are going to be quietly revised later.
November 17th, 2009 at 7:40 am
I’m sure they will be but I’m not sure why that matters. If the revised numbers show yet another quarter of negative growth, then his claim that the recession ended – unofficially or otherwise – will look even dumber than it does now. But suppose they are revised upward to show greater growth than previously thought? So what? One quarter of positive growth does not the end of a recession make. Surely there were some quarters with some positive growth during the Great Depression, no?
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