Economic Panel Says U.S. Recession Ended June 2009, Many on Main Street Beg to Differ

The National Bureau of Economic Research, which is made up of academic economists and is based in Cambridge, MA, said the longest recession the country has ever endured since World War II ended in June 2009. Really? I would have guessed right off that the high foreclosure and unemployment rates were a dead give away to them. Of course, I am being facetious. I can't sing hallelujah, when millions of Americans are struggling to make ends meet and keep a roof over their heads.Well, if we aren't in a recession, then we are in the throes of something else.

The National Bureau of Economic Research, a panel of academic economists based in Cambridge, Mass., said the recession lasted 18 months. It started in December 2007 and ended in June 2009. Previously the longest postwar downturns were those in 1973-1975 and in 1981-1982. Both of those lasted 16 months.

The decision makes official what many economists have believed for some time, that the recession ended in the summer of 2009. The economy started growing again in the July-to-September quarter of 2009, after a record four straight quarters of declines. Thus, the April-to-June quarter of 2009 marked the last quarter when the economy was shrinking. At that time, it contracted just 0.7 percent, after suffering through much deeper declines. That factored into the NBER's decision to pinpoint the end of the recession in June. Source: Tampa Bay

The two hardest hit communities, blacks and Latinos, won't be jumping for joy with this revelation.