This just in!!!!  Breaking news!!!!  The US has been in a recession since December 2007. Shocking, I know.  But somehow the idea that we've been in a recession since December 2007 being breaking news seems a tad bit oxymoronic.  Or at the very least moronic.

President Bush, showing his typical abundance of caution, remarked in February 2008:

I don't think we're headed to recession. But no question, we're in a slowdown.

http://abcnews.go.com/politics/wirestory?id=4361751

Unthinkable that a President who has shown such wisdom and foresight could have been so wrong.  Well he was half right - we weren't heading into a recession.  At the time he made his prediction, we were already two months into the recession that he predicted $600 stimulus checks were robust enough to stave off.  I'm no economist, but I'm thinking he had enough information to see the writing ont he wall.  Everyday Americans knew it was so.  Most economists at the time were anticipating a recession or thought we were already in one.

Seriously, if anyone can speed up time to make it January 20th already, it would be much appreciated.  49 days and counting.