The Great Recession: Is It Time For A Name Change?

In 2008, then-President George W. Bush announced that America was in the process of what he called an economic "slowdown." But by as early as that December, a new term to describe the weak economy had entered the public lexicon: The Great Recession.

What do you think the economic slump should be called? Tweet at @HuffPostBiz using the hashtag #RenameRecession.

At the time, there was little consensus how long the slump would last. The Federal Government had bailed out most of the major Wall Street financial firms and the U.S. had already lost a net total of 2.6 million jobs by the end of 2008 -- including 524,000 jobs in December of that year alone, according to CNNMoney. The unemployment rate was then only 7.2 percent.

Two years after the recession officially ended, many Americans continue to feel the downturn's pain. The unemployment rate remains stuck above nine percent, wages are stagnant and home prices continue to decline -- all of which have caused some to question whether The Great Recession is the best term to describe what the country has been through.

In a recent column, Nobel Prize-winning economist Paul Krugman explained that he had started to refer to the current economic period as the "Lesser Depression." Brad DeLong, former Deputy Assistant Secretary at the Treasury, says that Great Recession might be underselling the current economic climate. Instead, he prefers the term "Little Depression."

Other non-economists have also given their two cents, like when Vice President Joe Biden last year said this was "Bush's Recession," according to Politics Daily. Conservative talkshow host Rush Limbaugh took the opposite position. "This," he said, "is an Obama recession."

Tweet at @HuffPostBiz using the hashtag #RenameRecession with your idea for what the downturn should be called. We'll compile the best answers.

See other names for the Great Recession coined by notable people:

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George W. Bush: Economic Slowdown

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In April 2008, George W. Bush told listeners in New Orleans that America was "not in a recession. We are in a slowdown," the Denver Post then reported. This was just five months before the entire American financial system collapsed, requiring the federal government to bail out every major Wall Street financial firm, Fannie and Freddie Mac and U.S. automakers. It also led to widespread unemployment and housing crises.

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In April 2008, George W. Bush told listeners in New Orleans that America was "not in a recession. We are in a slowdown," the Denver Post then reported. This was just five months before the entire American financial system collapsed, requiring the federal government to bail out every major Wall Street financial firm, Fannie and Freddie Mac and U.S. automakers. It also led to widespread unemployment and housing crises.

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Comments

[James Adam Carrington]

03:07 PM on 08/30/2011

The Second Great Depression is what I've been calling it since it began, because that's exactly what it is. People are only now beginning to realize this? In addition, I really don't think that we'll ever get back to even close to where we once were economically. Financially, our best days are behind us, I'm afraid.

[schatsie]

08:19 AM on 08/12/2011

this is the Second Great Depression and I say that becuase the Gangsters Banksters are paying 15t% tax rate while the wage slave who take in less than 1/2 the income in this country are paying 7.5% for Payroll taxes and an income tax on top of that and have basicly minimal deductions.....Time to raise the Standard Deduction to what it would have been under Eisenhower which would be well over $20 grand.....after applying inflation....... That is one reason... The other is the DEBT that the Wage Slaves have,,,, took on THREE TRILLION dollars of home equity debt under the Greenspam/Bush Real Estate Bubble....and the interest rates are HORRENDOUS when you consider what they have been historically.....and since thes interest rates are based on The Banksters Risk, then the banksters need to take the haircut since they have already collected the rewards.....but that will not happen in this decade, the Bankster Gangsters are going to extend this party AS LONG AS THEY CAN....

[dcflush]

02:53 PM on 08/09/2011

Republican recession.

[James Adam Carrington]

03:11 PM on 08/30/2011

Well, Republican has always meant recession as far back as I can remember; actually, the two words are one and the same as far as I'm concerned.

[1 smartmind]

11:16 AM on 08/09/2011

the rich recession cause no one cares about the poor or the middle class.

[baileywick]

09:18 PM on 08/08/2011

Thank you.
All on GWB's watch. Eight years of a failed businessman's drinking experiences did as well as it did for his three failed oil companies and his chronically losing baseball team.
Why did the blinded right ever put one ounce of faith in this frat boy hustler?

[schatsie]

08:21 AM on 08/12/2011

He delivered to the HAVE MORES....This is the only time in history when the rich paid less in taxes for wars than the Wage Slaves.....the only time.....they paid 15% because all of their income was preferentially taxed, isn't that precious?

[James Adam Carrington]

03:15 PM on 08/30/2011

Um, you forgot "cokehead." Actually, the man is an addict, period. Now that he supposedly no longer drinks alcohol, he's what psychologists call a "dry drunk". In addition to being an addict, I personally have always thought of him as a sociopath as well.

[Renee Libby]

06:28 PM on 08/06/2011

The Re-Re-Recession

[Rick Layton]

08:31 AM on 08/06/2011

The Extended Recession with Depression with no more AAA credit rating only AA. The bright side is the AAA motor club is still AAA. Maybe they should run our country, at least we get discounts by being a AAA plus member.

[Sherri Vargas]

10:17 AM on 08/02/2011

The great death to the middle class

[schatsie]

08:22 AM on 08/12/2011

The US of Aristocraps....

[cne666]

09:15 AM on 08/02/2011

How about the GREATER Depression?

[Mark Kraft]

04:25 AM on 08/02/2011

This should be called the Anti-Keynesian Recession, because the forces that have been against Keynesian economics and regulation created it and are currently dragging it out.

[CJ40inWI]

02:50 AM on 08/02/2011

I prefer the Great American Cluster- ----.

[dukeofurl01]

01:02 AM on 08/02/2011

Well, considering that I've been out of work for 2 years, with a recent degree and the desire to work, I'd call it "The Great Depression part two: Republicans Strike Back"

[gracegmb5]

09:32 PM on 08/01/2011

Why did so manycompanies that used labor have to move off shore? Union demands above and beyond a pay raise. Feather bedding in the railroad industry and other industries. If you do not have a manufacturing base you can't support yourself. Everyone can't be a nerd. We need to make shoes, clothes, TV sets, electronics. Factory workes in small plants around the country were forced out of the industry We need to buy American. The only way to improve the country is to close the gates and heal ourselves. Globalism is not the answer. Just look at what happend to Europe and the Euro experiment.

[baileywick]

09:23 PM on 08/08/2011

The American automobile companies took THREE decades before they even STARTED thinking about making a decent fuel efficient car, and we had to save their visionless butts.
Offshoring is simply greed for those manufacturers, or haven't you seen how well Nike has done?
Oil subsidies for friends of the corporate right?
Subsidies for ADM?
Tax cuts for billionaires?
Aren't we patriotic.

[schatsie]

08:25 AM on 08/12/2011

THERE WAS ONLY ONE REASON that the UNIONS got away with that stuff and it was because the OLIGARCHical WASTE and FRAUD was worse.....See Inside Job, it is not by chance that Wall Street has paid about a trillion to hookers in the last 10 years AND NONE of THAT trillion dollar was taxed, it was ALL BUSINESS EXPENSES and there was not SS tax or income tax collected on that money......NOT ONE CENT.....

[Tom Hendricks]

07:16 PM on 08/01/2011

Speaking of a name for this mess. Let's include a name that might help turn all this around - and surprisingly it is outside the government completely. http://wp.me/p5S9X-nv
When the media talks about it, you will hear a lot more.
National Hiring Day - This is a day that corporations are encouraged to hire new employees. Corporations are called on to put patriotism first and help their country in
hard times. Those corporations that cannot hire, are asked to stop firing for that month.

[dfok]

02:54 PM on 08/01/2011

republigeddon