Economy worst since Great Depression, World Bank says - Mar. 9, 2009

How bad? Real bad.

Economy worst since Great Depression, World Bank says - Mar. 9, 2009:

"'The global economy is likely to shrink this year for the first time since World War II,' the bank said, noting that global industrial production, by the middle of 2009, could be as much as 15% lower than in 2008.

Based on those projections, world trade is on track to record its largest decline in 80 years, with the sharpest losses expected in East Asia."

From Warren Buffett (on CNBC):

""It's fallen off a cliff," Buffett said Monday during a live appearance on cable network CNBC. "Not only has the economy slowed down a lot, but people have really changed their habits like I haven't seen.....Buffett said he doesn't regret writing a commentary in the fall encouraging people to buy U.S. stocks, but he joked that in hindsight he wishes he'd waited a few months to publish the piece. Since that commentary appeared on Oct. 17, the Dow Jones industrial average has fallen from 8,852.22 to close at 6,626.94 on Friday."

and from the NY Times:

"Since the recession began, the economy has eliminated a net total of roughly 4.4 million jobs, with more than half of those positions — some 2.6 million — disappearing in the last four months alone. This rapid deterioration has prompted talk that some industries are being partly dismantled......For decades, the government has reacted to downturns by handing out temporary unemployment insurance checks, relying upon the resumption of economic growth to restore the jobs lost. This time, the government needs to place a greater emphasis on retraining workers for other careers, these economists say."

Interestingly several of my students hit on this last point in their essays for a mid-term.