Ben Bernanke, chairman of the Federal Reserve, said earlier this week that the recession is over and that the economy has entered a recovery period. That’s good news, right? Well, unfortunately, he also said that we’re not going to feel like we’re in a recovery for quite a while yet.

The number of people who filed new unemployment claims fell again last week. On the other hand, the total number of people who continue to file for unemployment keeps marching higher.

Though housing starts increased by 1.5% overall in August, single-family starts actually declined by 3%. As a result, the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) is calling for the extension of the first-time home buyer tax credit, among other actions, to restart momentum.

The majority of participants (86%) in a recent CNN poll do not believe that the recession is over: “According to the poll, 42% say the country is in a serious recession, 35% call it a moderate recession, and one in 10 characterize it as a mild recession.”

It’s difficult for those of us on Main Street to view the recession as over unless we actually see substantive improvements in our daily lives. Maybe the real good news is that we are actually seeing more and more good news. We can’t expect the economy to turn on a dime, but it is definitely looking like the worst may be over.


Have you seen signs that the recession is weakening? Please share some examples by adding a comment below.