My husband and I just got back from a talk by a senior economist at the San Francisco Federal Reserve Bank, Mary C. Daly. It was titled “Understanding the Current Economic Crisis,” which is a lot to promise for an hour lecture, but the woman held her own. The big takeaway? Most of our previous recessions have been “v”-shaped: a sharp drop in GDP followed by sharp rise. The current recession is looking more like a big, shallow bowl: a long, slow descent down (bottoming out at the end of 2009), followed by an even slower rise (not picking up significant steam until 2012). While the thought of this strife continuing in full force for another 9 months isn’t pleasant, it was somewhat comforting to see her dotted line actually start inching upward when so many people are feeling like there’s no relief at all on the horizon. As we handed over the $25 to the babysitter when we got home, it felt like we were doing our part to keep the economic engine churning, albeit ever. So. Slowly.
