Recession+Blues

In July 2007 real estate prices began to fall and people realized that they could either not repay their mortgages or that they owed more on their house than they could sell it for. Mortgages began to rise significantly and many banks that were heavily involved in issuing subprime mortgages were in danger of failure. This brought financial turmoil to the economy and in December 2007, the United States of America was experiencing a recession. However it was not until December 2008, NBER, Nation Bureau of Economic Research, announced the nation was in a recession. When they announced this they said that, "a recession is a significant decline in economic activity spread across the economy, lasting more than a few months, normally visible in production, employment, real income, and other indicators." ("NBER Announces U.S. Economy is in Recession"). In December the number of filled jobs in the economy reached a peak and has been declining ever since. In 2008 3 million workers lost their jobs as companies failed and in April 2009 the national unemployment rate was 8.5%. The Stock Market also fell to a 10-year low. On October 3, 2008 Congress passed the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act, which is a $700 billion bailout plan. This should help recover the housing and banking markets. However this action might be too late, but who knows how Barack Obama will take care of it.