US Recession To Last Longer Than Usual
The director of the Reuters/University of Michigan consumer sentiment survey, Richard Curtin, said on Friday that the US has already entered a recession that will last longer than usual. He says that the recession will be more painful and drawn out than the usual downturn.
“This is no ordinary recession,” he said. “The aftereffects will last much longer than the typical downturn.” “Consumers must take more drastic steps to stabilize their finances in the midst of high fuel and food prices, stagnant incomes, and record debt,” Curtin said.
Curtin expects that conditions in the US housing market to continue to become worse during 2008. He also looks for higher prices, even in an economic downturn, to complication efforts to combat the recession.
Without using the word it appears to me that Curtin is forecasting a return to a period of stagflation when we will have falling markets in housing and the equities markets while experiencing raising prices for food and fuel. As usual it will be the lower and middle class income groups that will be most affected by a poor economy.
Read the full article...
