--- title: 'Earth to economists: Recession isn''t over' description: Last week’s stream of economic data points to the emergence of a great divide. On the positive side, annualized third-quarter GDP was up 3.5 percent… authors: - name: timestaff url: https://money.com/author/timestaff/ articles: 459 covers: - Banking - Career Advice - Credit - Credit Cards - Housing - Identity Theft - Insurance - Investing - Lifestyle - Loans - Mortgages - Personal Finance - Professional Services - Retirement - Shopping - Taxes former_staff: true published: '2009-11-07T18:09:11.000Z' modified: '2009-11-07T18:09:11.000Z' section: Economy and Politics word_count: 272 canonical: https://money.com/earth-to-economists-recession-isnt-over/ type: Article source: structured-blocks --- > **Disclosure:** We research all brands listed and may earn a fee from our partners. Research and financial considerations may influence how brands are displayed. Not all brands are included. [Learn more](https://money.com/page/disclaimer/). ![Earth to economists: Recession isn't over](https://money.com/img/logo-social.png) Last week’s stream of economic data points to the emergence of a great divide. On the positive side, annualized third-quarter GDP was [up 3.5 percent](http://money.cnn.com/2009/10/29/news/economy/gdp/index.htm) compared to the prior quarter. (Keep in mind that this is an "advance" estimate from the Dept. of Commerce. Stay tuned for revisions.) But consumer spending for September [fell 0.5 percent](http://money.cnn.com/2009/10/30/news/economy/personal_income_spending_September/index.htm). That’s the biggest dip since December 2008 when we were in the midst of the financial crisis. While massive government spending is behind the GDP uptick, consumers aren’t exactly in a spending mood, given an official unemployment rate that we learned this week [hit 10.2 percent](http://money.cnn.com/2009/11/06/news/economy/jobs_october/?postversion=2009110611). “Only economists see the recession as being over; the man on the street sees it a little differently,” sums up David Rosenberg, chief economist at Gluskin Sheff. (For the record, Rosenberg is one economist who definitely does not see the recession as over.) Rosenberg noted that a recent [WSJ/NBC News Poll](http://online.wsj.com/article/SB125667589615011225.html?mod=WSJ_hps_MIDDLESecondNews "WSJ/NBC News poll") reported that 58 percent of people surveyed in late October believe the recession is still on, up from 52 percent in September. That’s no surprise after hearing what [Brookings Institution econ wonk Karen Dynan laid out in testimony](http://www.brookings.edu/testimony/2009/1029_recovery_dynan.aspx "Brookings testimony consumer spending") before the Joint Economic Committee last week: “Recent declines in asset prices," noted Dynan, "have reduced the ratio of non-pension wealth to income for the median household below the levels seen over the past quarter-century and similar to the level seen in the early 1960s.” But here we are, rounding the corner and heading into prime holiday spending season. Compared to last November and December, when Chicken Little’s outlook seemed ominously credible, what's your spending budget looking like this year? ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "@id": "https://money.com/earth-to-economists-recession-isnt-over/#breadcrumb", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://money.com" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Economy and Politics", "item": "https://money.com/economy-and-politics/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Recession", "item": "https://money.com/recession/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "Earth to economists: Recession isn't over" } ] }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://money.com/#website", "url": "https://money.com", "name": "Money", "publisher": { "@id": "https://money.com/#organization" } }, { "@type": "WebPage", "@id": "https://money.com/earth-to-economists-recession-isnt-over/#webpage", "url": "https://money.com/earth-to-economists-recession-isnt-over/", "name": "Earth to economists: Recession isn't over", "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://money.com/#website" }, "datePublished": "2009-11-07T18:09:11.000Z", "mainEntity": { "@id": "https://money.com/earth-to-economists-recession-isnt-over/" }, "inLanguage": "en-US", "breadcrumb": { "@id": "https://money.com/earth-to-economists-recession-isnt-over/#breadcrumb" }, "dateModified": "2009-11-07T18:09:11.000Z" }, { "@type": "Article", "headline": "Earth to economists: Recession isn't over", "articleSection": "Economy and Politics", "image": [ { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://money.com/img/logo-social.png", "width": 300, "height": 300 } ], "author": [ { "@type": "Person", "name": "timestaff", "url": "https://money.com/author/timestaff/", "@id": "https://money.com/author/timestaff/#author" } ], "publisher": "https://money.com/#organization", "datePublished": "2009-11-07T18:09:11.000Z", "description": "Last week’s stream of economic data points to the emergence of a great divide. 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