Trends and Entertainment

The Recession Will End… When We All Say So

Last week, a lot of you let us know when and how the recession will be over for you in our giveaway. Not surprisingly, common themes revolved around jobs, college tuition, and real estate. These days these topics make up the recession buzz and sound almost like another headline or statistic on the recession’s status. Yet, your input brought the recession’s tensions, struggles, frustrations, and hopes to a very human level—reminders that whether we like it or not, we’re in this together.

As mom Carol Connolly said, “I will know that the recession is over when I can stop wondering and worrying if my husband or I or one of my children will lose our jobs.”

Trying to see the upside of the downturn, Tracy Robertson noted, “The recession is no fun, but the silver lining is that we waste less stuff. It’s good for the environment.”

For some of you, the recession’s end is all about big, tangible changes in corporate America like restrained salaries, bonuses, and perks. “The recession will end when those at the top stop being so greedy,” Judy Bradley noted. Or it’s about what our government does or doesn’t do. And how all of this impacts those in the middle: “The recession will end when the middle class feels optimistic again,” Bernie wrote.

For others, it’s as personal as getting a job and not separating two-ply toilet paper to make it into two rolls. Or it’s just the feeling of not being broke.

The tone of the responses were clear that the feeling of the recession’s end isn’t really here yet, even though: “The recession is theoretically over,” as Michelle pointed out. Thank you Ben Bernanke.

Highlighting that the recession’s pain is felt and seen in more than one dimension, Stanley Lines said, “The recession will end when there are more pages of job want ads than foreclosures!”

Whatever signals the recession’s end, we’ll keep writing about it until it’s really over.

Tags: recession, recovery, The Recession Will End...