U.S. in 'Awfully Pale Recession,' Greenspan Quoted

Reuters (05/05/08); Sivaraman, Aarthi
Speaking during a television interview, former Federal Reserve chairman Alan Greenspan declared that the country has slipped into a mild recession that is not likely to improve until residential property prices begin to stabilize and the pressure on financial institutions to write off mortgage-related losses eases up. "We're in a recession," the economist said. "But this is an awfully pale recession at the moment. The declines in employment have not been as big as you'd expect to see." Still, Greenspan was firm in his belief that the economy would not see a turnaround anytime soon and would likely be stagnant for the remainder of 2008.