It's official, we are in a recession

The official announcement was made yesterday confirming that the country is in a recession. While the news of a recession is not surprising to anyone paying attention to the economy, November’s home sales may catch you a little off guard. Marc Fox pleasantly surprises us with the numbers for November and Allan Glass provides details to what exactly the recession is and why the announcement was finally made. Existing Home Sales Climb in West
By Marc Fox

“Sales of existing homes jumped in the Western region’s October 2008 stats according to the National Association of Realtors. Roughly 104,000 homes and condominiums were sold last month in the 13 western states. That represents a 41% increase from the same month last year and was a 6% increase from September’s statistics.”

Just Tell Us What You Want to Hear
By Allan Glass

“Most economists agree that a recession is “technically” when a country’s GDP sustains a negative growth factor for at least 2 consecutive quarters. The US GDP grew, although modestly, in the 1st and 2nd quarter of 2008 which means we really haven’t reached a recession as of yet. My feeling is that we’ve moved past the need for a technical definition. I also believe that most of the erratic movement in the stock markets and lack of movement in the real estate markets is due to a lack in acceptance that we are here everyone.”