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What Is a Recession? The official definition of recession is when GDP growth is negative for consecutive two quarters or more. However, you can feel like you are in a recession before it has officially started because it is usually preceded by several quarters of slowing but positive growth. http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2022949/posts
First-quarter GDP revised higher as expected, to 0.9% growth
MarketWatch ^ | May 29, 2008
The nation's real gross domestic product increased at a 0.9% annual rate in the first three months of the year, slightly faster than the 0.6% rate originally estimated a month ago.
GDP increased 0.6% in the fourth quarter. The economy has grown 2.5% in the past year.

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2023821/posts
What Recession?
IBD ^ | May 30, 2008
The fact is that real GDP, viewed on a year-over-year basis, increased 2.5% in this year's first quarter — the same as in last year's fourth. (Year-over-year comparisons, not quarter-to-quarter, are most telling.)

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2026400/posts
Jobless claims show unexpected improvement
AP ^ | June 5, 2008
The unemployment report for May will be released on Friday. Analysts are expecting that the overall civilian jobless rate will edge up to 5.1 percent, compared to 5 percent in April, and that businesses will have cut 60,000 jobs, marking the fifth straight month of job losses.
This prolonged stretch of job cuts has many economists believing the country has fallen into a recession.
However, the overall economy as measured by the gross domestic product has managed to remain in positive territory with the GDP growing at an annual rate of 0.9 percent in the first three months of the year.

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2054241/posts
GDP gets stimulus checks boost
Reuters ^ | 7-31-2008
Gross Domestic Product or GDP grew at a 1.9 percent annual rate, up from a revised 0.9 percent rate in the first quarter that previously was reported as 1 percent.
Economists surveyed by Reuters had expected a 2.0 percent rise in GDP in the second quarter.

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2054216/posts
GDP accelerates to 1.9% pace in 2nd quarter
Marketwatch.com ^ | July 31, 2008
real growth in the U.S. economy accelerated in the second quarter to a 1.9% annual rate

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2090174/posts
Scaring Us to Death
Town Hall ^ | September 24, 2008 | Walter E. Williams
Recall that during President Carter's last year in office in 1980 what was called the “misery index”, which was defined as the sum of the inflation and unemployment rates, was about 22 percent: inflation averaged 14 percent; unemployment was 7.5 percent. Today's inflation just became 5 percent, having been between 1 and 3 percent for a decade, and unemployment is 6.1.

http://www.miseryindex.us/URbymonth.asp
The US Unemployment Rate
January 1948 to June 2009

http://www.miseryindex.us/indexbyPresident.asp
Misery Index = Unemployment rate + Inflation rate by president

http://www.miseryindex.us/customindexbymonth.asp
The US Misery Index by month