Changes

The '''Recession of 2008''' (also called the '''Recession of the late 2000's''' or the '''Great Recession''') is a major worldwide economic downturn that began in 2008 and continued into 2010. It was caused by the [[Financial Crisis of 2008]]; it is by far the worst recession since the Great Depression of the 1930s. It appears the worldwide recession hit bottom around September 2009; however there are few signs that the American or world economies have started to move upward again.  [[Greece]], [[Portugal]] and [[Ireland]] remain in serious trouble, while China and Brazil have rebounded and are growing rapidly.  Concerning the United States economy, proponents of [[free market]] capitalism declare that  [[Federal Reserve]] Chairman [[Ben Bernanke]] should not have bailed out failing firms and instead should have allowed free market capitalism to quickly recover as it did in the depression of 1920 without government intervention (free market capitalists assert that government intervention merely drags out recessions and depressions).<ref>http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zzTXaAXusiI</ref><ref>http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=czcUmnsprQI</ref> A 2005 study found that government corporate bailouts are often done for mere political considerations and the economic resources allocated exhibit significantly worse economic performance than resources allocated using purely business considerations.<ref>http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=676905</ref>

The '''Recession of 2008''' (also called the '''Recession of the late 2000's''' or the '''Great Recession''') is a major worldwide economic downturn that began in 2008 and continued into 2010. It was caused by the [[Financial Crisis of 2008]]; it is by far the worst recession since the Great Depression of the 1930s. It appears the worldwide recession hit bottom around September 2009; however there are few signs that the American or world economies have started to move upward again.  [[Greece]], [[Portugal]] and [[Ireland]] remain in serious trouble, while [[China]] and [[Brazil]] have rebounded and are growing rapidly.  Concerning the United States economy, proponents of [[free market]] capitalism declare that  [[Federal Reserve]] Chairman [[Ben Bernanke]] should not have bailed out failing firms and instead should have allowed free market capitalism to quickly recover as it did in the depression of 1920 without government intervention (free market capitalists assert that government intervention merely drags out recessions and depressions).<ref>http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zzTXaAXusiI</ref><ref>http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=czcUmnsprQI</ref> A 2005 study found that government corporate bailouts are often done for mere political considerations and the economic resources allocated exhibit significantly worse economic performance than resources allocated using purely business considerations.<ref>http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=676905</ref>

Likewise in the U.S. the economy has stabilized but has not shown signs of recovery, apart from the stock market going up. Serious weaknesses continue in housing, commercial real estate, banking, automobiles, and retail trade. [[Unemployment]] continues to worsen, reaching 10.2% in October, 2009 and slipping to 10.0% in November, with conditions especially poor in California, Michigan and South Carolina.

Likewise in the U.S. the economy has stabilized but has not shown signs of recovery, apart from the stock market going up. Serious weaknesses continue in housing, commercial real estate, banking, automobiles, and retail trade. [[Unemployment]] continues to worsen, reaching 10.2% in October, 2009 and slipping to 10.0% in November, with conditions especially poor in California, Michigan and South Carolina.