Economist - Lost in the Recession

The Economist has a good set of charts and articles about how much was lost in the recent recession - It really is a lost decade.  Here are the charts:

Recession is Over - Incomes Going Down

The New York Times has a good article on how average incomes have gone down in the aftermath of the recession.  This is one of the reasons why "it still feels like a recession".  It also means that it will be a slow recovery (since low incomes will result in lower consumption).  The graph below says it all.

Comparing the Great Depression to Now - How Now is Worse

David Leonhardt has a good piece comparing the Great Depression to the current economic problems in terms of how the shadow of the Depression American industry was building the base for the economic growth in subsequent decades.  He notes that this does not seem to be happening now.  His basic point of how were have a cyclical downturn built on a structural growth downturn is a troubling idea.  The article also has this good graph of job creation looking back over sixty years.

Long Great Recession

Unemployment is down to 8.8% - that's good. How does this recession match up with post-war history? It is still the worst. Check out the chart below from the blog Calculated Risk (via the Economist's Free Exchange blog):