If you actually work for a living, the US has been in recession for nearly all of the past 30 years. There were about 5 years in the 90s when things got better but they never completely recovered to the levels before this era. The reason for this is that there has also been a recession for those who make real investments. Without this investment in plant, equipment, R&D etc., there can be no real recovery. This has largely been obscured by the increase in female participation in the workforce. This allowed 2 incomes to have a slightly better standard of living over the one income required in the 1960s.

However, if you are a speculator, a financier, a wealthy heir or heiress or own lots of real estate, there really have been few years where, for you, the economy was in recession.

The high interest rates of the early 1980s hit these parasites hard, but Ronnie Reagan did his best for them by lowering the taxes on speculation and inherited wealth and running massive deficits to prop up the economy. This unleashed a stock market boom, followed by a real estate boom peppered with other financial shenanigans to allow them to regularly line their pockets. Other than the stock market setbacks of around 2000 and a few nervous weeks last fall, before Dubya bailed them out, the wealthy speculator class has seldom felt any pain.

Bernanke is just blowing smoke. A recession really ends when the economy RECOVERS to the level it was at before the recession started AND employment fully recovers. All we may have here is that things have bottomed out and may not get much worse.

All this is such a shame. For a brief time, it looked like the parasite class might finally get the laws passed to put them in their place and real economic growth might again happen. However, the chance has probably passed and we should expect 10 to 15 years of at best tepid growth before another economic calamity. Expect even worse if the corrupt cretins of the Republican Party regain power. They'll speed up the arrival of the next calamity.