Depression Highs
This quote comes from an article in today's WSJ:

"Economists also see nearly a one-in-six chance that the U.S. will fall into a depression, defined as a decline in per-person GDP or consumption by 10% or more."

I never knew what the meaning of the word "depression" was. I figured it would be something bleaker. I know unemployment is near record highs, and that's bad, but unemployment doesn't seem to factor directly into whether or not we're in a depression or just a recession.

There was an article in yesterday's NY Times about how it's chic to cut back. The article quoted several hip New Yorkers (what other kind of New Yorker is there, in the NY Times?) who all said they were somewhat ashamed of their consumption habits in recent years. They sounded almost monk-like as they vowed to pay down credit cards, only buy essentials, etc.

It seems like we could all shed 10% of our consumption without getting depressed. A cheesy play on words? Definitely. A great depression, hardly. Them's my two bits.  ¶ 9:11 PM