Filed under: News, The Economy, Lynnette Khalfani-Cox
Despite what the "experts," say, most Americans are going to look at this proclamation as a bit of a joke - just like most people mainly just chuckled after the Bureau was a year late in calling the start of the recession. We don't need to look far to see why people will be skeptical about the so-called "end" of the recession.
Unemployment is still very high: at 9.6% nationwide, and far higher (about 16%) for African Americans. Just last week, the government told us that one in seven Americans (44 million) are now living in poverty, and that 50.7 million U.S. citizens are currently without health insurance.
All of this is to speak nothing of the trillions of dollars that have been lost in recent years in the stock market, the last decade of lost wage growth, and the persistent debt problems (housing debt, credit card debt, student loan debt, etc.) plaguing so many individuals and families.
With depressing challenges like these, it's kind of hard to buy the notion that we've truly turned the corner and that the economy has rebounded from its painful decline. Do you believe the recession is truly over? Why or why not?
Lynnette Khalfani-Cox, an award-winning financial news journalist and former Wall Street Journal reporter for CNBC, has been featured in the Washington Post, USA Today, and the New York Times, as well as magazines ranging from Essence and Redbook to Black Enterprise and Smart Money. Check out her New York Times best seller 'Zero Debt: The Ultimate Guide to Financial Freedom.'