On December 1, 2008, the National Bureau of Economic Research, the official arbiter of these things, announced what everyone already knew—the economy was in recession and the downturn had begun a year earlier in December 2007.

Every recession is unique and this one is no different. One of the unique features of the current downturn is its unusual trajectory. From December 2007 through August 2008, economic activity contracted at a fairly slow pace. And even this slow contraction was punctuated by a brief up tick in spending during the spring in response to the distribution of tax stimulus checks. During this period, the unemployment rate climbed slowly from 5.0% to 6.1%.