A Second Recession... Worse Than the First ?

A Second Recession in the U.S. Could Be Much Worse Than the First

By CATHERINE RAMPELL, NY TIMES

Published: August 7, 2011

www.nytimes.com



Policy makers exhausted their resources in the last recession and, in a weaker economy, would have few options the next time.



If the economy falls back into recession, as many economists are now warning, the bloodletting could be a lot more painful than the last time around.



Given the tumult of the Great Recession, this may be hard to believe. But the economy is much weaker than it was at the outset of the last recession in December 2007, with most major measures of economic health — including jobs, incomes, output and industrial production — worse today than they were back then. And growth has been so weak that almost no ground has been recouped, even though a recovery technically started in June 2009.



It would be disastrous if we entered into a recession at this stage, given that we haven’t yet made up for the last recession, said Conrad DeQuadros, senior economist at RDQ Economics.