I think the ray of hope that exists with GM (and the other US auto makers), is becoming the leader in the Chinese market. The Chinese are buying automobiles like crazy as their economy is taking off. The US auto makers are WAY ahead of the Chinese, and can supply much better products then they can build on their own. It also is a huge advantage that the US dollar is so weak, as that makes US products even more attractive to foreign buyers.

dreneb:
YES indeed. The last three presidential elections the economy was touted to be in dire straights. It's the same story every 4 years. Pander to voters that "I feel your pain" then once in office, it's politics as usual. It should also be noted that this stimulus rebate check, is a HUGE pander job, that was conveniently done to take effect right around the election!
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zoom:
you are right on. A recession is not known until 6 months after it has taken place by the normal definition. Many speculated that we would go into recession the 1st Q of this year, but when the GDP numbers came out, there was still positive growth. It slowed down a lot (to 0.6%) but was still growth. Many believe that there won't be any quarters of negative growth now, and the worse has happened. That's kind of why the markets have been doing so well the past couple months.

Do most people realize it is an election year! It seems to me, every election year, I have seen, has the economy in DIRE straights! I am a single mom, with only one (small) income, and 2 kids. I feel the effects of this "recession" as much as anyone. But do our ELECTED officials, really care about the EFFECTS on the American people, or, on WHO is coming into power, and WHO is going out!

re: Recessions. They usually aren't identified as such until they are almost over.

Debbemack,
Good ideas, but Honda, Nissan, Toyota and Smart (among others) have already beat GM to market with good sub-compact cars. And unfortunately, affordable battery technology is years off.

Here is more reading about Tesla...
http://www.thetruthaboutcars.com/i-want-...

Why don't we just all get together and tell GM to start thinking green and start producing an "All American Electric Car" or small 3 and 4 cylinder economy cars. Their sales will probably skyrocket, and produce more jobs if we don't get the cheap crap from Japan.

opinion80:
You kind of conveniently left out the first half of the definition that you provided from wikipedia. That being: "In macroeconomics, a recession is generally associated with a decline in a country's real gross domestic product (GDP), or negative real economic growth, for two or more successive quarters of a year. "
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That is the definition that most all economists use, and is how all past recessions have been defined in all you almanacs.
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If you want to use the more modern day version to make you feel better, and believe we are in recession. Hey; blow yourself away.
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janesvillan:
No doubt the CEO of JP Morgan knows a thing or two about money. He, as well as all you major bankers will make the same claim. The reason for that is simple, and it's because the entire financial sector has been getting drilled. The CEO's have to explain the billions in write downs (and huge drop in stock value) to their share holders in some manner. The easiest way to do so is by saying we are in recession. The real reason is, of course, that theses big bankers majorly screwed up in taking on sub prime and ALT-A debt, thinking that it would be easy $$$$ with the high interest rates that were being levied on the borrowers who took them on. They failed to realize that there were taking massive risk by extending credit to borrows who posed a very high risk of defaulting. Your bottom lines look great on paper when everyone pays you. Once you have defaults/foreclosures, all your "easy profit" suddenly turns into massive size losses. Consequently the entire financial sector has been hammered down on wall street the past 8 months. Only the action of the FOMC (cutting rates all the way to 2%) has stabilized them, and made them somewhat rebound recently.
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All though I don't think we are in recession (and many top investors would agree with that..Kenneth Heebner would be a good example)I think it's kind of relative to everyones own situation. If you work in banking or Auto, obviously you are going to think everything is going to hell in a hand basket. If you work in a very high tech industry (like myself) things can't be better right now.
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I think the statements that many of the initial posters made about GM is right on. The auto industry has been in recession a good 10 years (look at the 10 year stock chart of GM..down 71% over 10 years with no splits). Coming out and saying it's NOW in recession, is like...DUH.

gotthat - Of course we have and need alternate energy sources, but we will still use coal for a long time into the future. I suggest that you Google other sources for more info on Tesla rather than their self-serving website, you will get a broader view of all issues involved.
In regards to coal, the US Dept. of Energy says:
"Coal’s share of total electricity generation in the United States (including electricity produced at combined heat and power plants in the industrial and commercial sectors) declines slightly, from 50 percent in 2004 to 49 percent in 2015, then rises to 57 percent in 2030."
Source: http://www.eia.doe.gov/oiaf/ieo/coal.htm...

mark707 electricity is not solely manufactured by burning coal. Water, wind, solar and nuclear plants are all capable of producing electricity. The beauty of an electric vehicle is it's flexibility in how many ways electric energy can be made. The tesla website is very informative, I encourage you to read through some of the FAQ's and such.

gotthat - the Tesla does indeed get good mileage, but it burns coal in power plants to generate that electricity. Then we have to find a place to dispose of the batteries. The technology has a way to go but I'm encouraged by all of the efforts.

www.teslamotors.com

Less than 2 cents per mile. The whole term of "miles per gallon" will be a thing of the past.

Will it be "miles per dollar"? I like the sound of "over 50 miles per dollar".

I know someone inevitably will post about how expensive that car is, but you know what poster, the price will drop in time.

The price of technology will always drop while the price of fuel will always rise.

www.teslamotors.com

135 MPG... this is the future.

kiowamohican - A recession is a significant decline in economic activity spread across the economy, lasting more than a few months, normally visible in real GDP, real income, employment, industrial production, and wholesale-retail sales. A recession begins just after the economy reaches a peak of activity and ends as the economy reaches its trough. This definition is courtesy of http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Recession - you're a genius

I guess the CEO of JPMorgan Chase is just some punk who knows nothing about money.
http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5hupjK...

The U.S. auto industry is not in a recession and high gas prices are not changing which vehicles people buy?

This is the classic recession HYPE! It's hilarous to see that even some high ranking bankers and CEO's are buying into this nonsense!

While the media has been pounding away at a recession, and some of these idiots are even saying DEPRESSION, the fact is the economy is NOT in recession. The GDP has not even had ONE negative Q of growth, yet alone two (which is what is necessary for an official recession). I don't think many even know recession has an actual definition.
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I personally LOVE the hype. As soon as the media talked up the this false recession, and KEEPS hammering about high gas prices, it's the PERFECT time to BUY, and play call options, in this market! The best time to be in a market is when the masses/talking heads think that its a bad time to be in! Most of your speculative/growth stocks have been SOARING the past 3 months. Soaring, of course, right after the public mass exodus from the media driven recession hype!
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I LOVE THIS GAME!

Wow, these guys are geniuses! Whatever they are getting paid, it is not enough. Hello, Captain Obvious, what's new with you?

Hope they bring back the GEO metro, or even the chevette. I loved the gas milage I got with those cars, not to mention I could fit into any parking space LOL.

The writing has been on the wall since at least 2001. If the leadership of Local 95 had been as concerned about other's jobs as they are their own, they would have began pushing G.M. to bring a car line into the Janesville plant years ago.

A mirror of the times during the Carter Administration? Big cars gas crisis.

Too little, too late.

This is an old article from 1973, right?