The Great Recession

When everyone thinks of a recession they think of the great 1930’s depression and the causes of it. However, just recently back in 2008 the United States also felt the effects of a recession that still lingers today. A recession is defined as a significant decline in activity across the economy, lasting longer than a few months. It is visible in industrial production, employment, real income and wholesale-retail trade. The technical indicator of a recession is two consecutive quarters of negative economic growth as measured by a country's gross domestic product (GDP). With this definition we see that in half a year we could falter into a recession at any time. So what caused the recession of 2008? First we have to look at when it started
As they go through the tough times of jobs they look forward to the times when they can sit on the beach and drink margaritas. However because of the recession in 2008 a lot of people are now wondering not when they will get to retire but if they will retire. This is due to two things. The first is that stocks dropped dramatically during this time. “The second effect on retirement is the worsening of the labor market, and particularly the difficulty of finding a job following unemployment in the older population, (Hurd, 16). Retirement was a dream for many and now some may need to put off their dreams and start concentrating on their kids. While concentrating on their kids they also have to worry about their
The housing market was the first cause of the recession but wasn’t the only one. It probably was the most impactful one when the prices of houses dropped and people lost equity and the house builders lost quality jobs that they have had for a few years during the housing boom. Government spending also was a key factor to the recession of the recession in 2008. With the government borrowing money to pay debt owed to other countries it helped weaken the dollar and made American fear that the dollar value was going to collapse. Also the inequality of the wealth classes had an impact as people tried to keep up with the wealthy in consumer choices that they couldn’t afford which put them in debt with credit cards and loans. These had effect on unemployment with the builders and manufacturers as their markets dropped but also had effect on the consumer as prices for product rose due to the demand going down for certain products like the car industry. To keep this type and duration of recession for happening again the American people need to take actions now and so does the government. People need to live within their means and to only buy things needed and that they can afford. They don’t need to buy out of their means and try to live a life they can’t afford. The government also needs to do the same thing. We