Ben Bernanke Has Claimed The Recession Is Over. Do You Believe Him?

This is like George Bush's proclamation of "Mission Accomplished".

Fortunately for my family, the biggest effect of the recession (my husband's lay off of 6 months) is over. However, the job he was able to get is a two hour train ride away (each direction). He is on-call on the weekends as well with this more global software engineering job, and seems to be dancing quickly to be sure he doesn't lose this job at least. The pay seems less because of our increased expenses: train $300 a month and new used car payment. (Our 1992 Toyota with 245,000 miles broke down during this period, so we had to buy a new car with monthly payments). We were hoping to get a house during the lower prices in California, but all the investors are buying up the homes before they hit the market. So the recession, in and of itself, seems less relevant to me than the system of changes that has made the wealthy even farther ahead inspite of the recession and the rest of us further behind. (And I didn't even see Michael Moore's movie as yet). But we're grateful for the chance to work and to continue trying. It's just work.

In strict economic terms, which is what you can expect from any man in his position, a recession is two consecutive quarters of negative economic growth. The economy is no longer experiencing negative growth, therefore the recession is, in fact, over.

In more human terms, people are still losing their jobs, the housing market still sucks, businesses are still closing and credit is still playing hard-to-get, so for many, the recession is still wreaking havoc.

Just depends on your perspective.