Personal About Politics: Welcome to the Recession

But wait....there's more. In between then and now, we have had – according to Recession.com (yes there is such a site) - 7 panics, 6 recessions, 2 depressions and 1 oil crisis.

(all together now: fivvvve golden rings.....)

And what have we learned from all these economic disasters starting in 1763? Apparently not much because forecasters are warning this "downturn" could set a postwar record for length and be more painful than any since 1980 and 1981.

"We will rewrite the record book on length for this recession," Allen Sinai, president of Decision Economics told the New York Times. "It's still arguable whether it will set a new record on depth. I hope not but we don't know."

Obviously nobody seems to know. Especially Washington and Wall Street. With the "surprising" news that we were actually in a recession 1 year old, the Dow dropped a whopping 680 points Monday. As if they didn't see that coming.

It actually feels good to bring the "R" word out of the closet and call it a recession without somebody saying "shish." Get used to it. It sounds like it will be around for a while.

Welcome to our recession.

Cheri Cabot, Politics Correspondent

Cheri's column, "Personal About Politics," published every week, will reflect on how the life of a 59 year-old, middle class woman is affected by politics, policy and the current state of the nation - a look at the personal aspects of politics. 

Cheri is a freelance writer, living in Southern California.  She has two grown children, one in Iowa and one at Columbia University, and is the proud grandmother of two. Cheri is also a purveyor of fine coffee, warm chatter and dry wit.

You can find all of Cheri's columns on Personal About Politics at www.personalpolitcs.gather.com, or www.ccabot.gather.com.

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