Greenspan: 'The Recession Is Over'


One of the world's preeminent economists and former central bankers had some good news and not-so-good news for investors.

Speaking on NBC's Meet The Press on Sunday, Former U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan said, "The recession is over. It bottomed back in the middle of the year."

However, Greenspan added that, as many economists agree, the economic recovery will have to continue for some time to absorb the slack in the labor force to lower the U.S. unemployment rate significantly.

Greenspan then agreed with co-guest former U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson that one key to job growth would be a longstanding characteristic of the historically adaptable, resilient U.S. economy: innovation. That's the rate at which new businesses are formed, and existing businesses deploy new technologies/products/services, and find ways to operate more efficiently.

Economic Analysis: The National Bureau of Economic Research is the nation's official arbiter concerning when a recession begins and ends, but given Mr. Greenspan's knowledge of the subject, he gets the benefit of the doubt, to say the least. The official data will probably show the recession ended in Q3 2009, and now the hard work begins: creating the 15-20 million new jobs that the nation needs to get back to full employment.

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