Recessions

Tonight after hearing Anne Coulter declare that recessions last 18 months, I did a little research online about recessions.  Here's some of what I learned:

There have been 11 recessions since WW2

In the first half of the 20th century, recessions were typically half as long as economic growth periods, meaning the average recession lasted a year and a half. The last two recessions, not including this one, have lasted only one-tenth as long as their corresponding expansions, making their length only eight months. I guess Anne was right on the 18th month timeline anyway.

What causes recessions?  Sometimes the economy just 'runs out of steam' and sometimes it gets a stomachache from overindulging, like it did with commercial real estate in the 80's, the tech sector in the 90's, and residential real estate in the 2000's.  Reductions in the availability of a key economic input - like oil- can cause the economy to falter too.

We usually look to the federal government to prevent recessions, but three problems make this goal difficult. One is simply how to know a recession is occurring or is about to occur. Second is deciding what to do about a recession. By its nature, public policy takes time to debate and formulate. Third is the time lag it takes for government actions to have an impact. Once any government policy is developed and agreed to, between six and 18 months may be needed for the "medicine" to work its wonders.

Recessions appear to be coming about once every eight to 10 years. This means each of us has to decide how to live through them until better days come.