Which gives rise to some recession thoughts:
There have been five recessions in the last three decades.
They lasted on average 10 months.
That's short, compared to the growth cycles in between the recessions. Those lasted almost five years each on average in recent times.
The last recession did not begin because of September 11.
No matter what the airlines said, they were losing money long before the terrorists struck.
The recession that year actually began in March 2001 and ended in November 2001. An eight-month quickie.
This one seems to have begun sometime last year. It probably won't fit the standard definition of six months of economic decline. This one, it seems, is a recession created by consumers and marked by a dismal outlook. It may not actually drag growth down, but it's a drag all the same.