The slide in gross domestic product... is likely to continue at an alarming pace well into the summer...

In the fourth quarter, rising inventories accounted for the difference between the overall 3.8 percent contraction of the economy and a steeper 5.1 decline in final domestic sales.

“The difference between 3.8 and 5.1 percent is the inventory buildup,” Nigel Gault, chief United States economist at IHS Global Insight, said. “My only explanation is that companies could not cut production fast enough.”

With inventory accumulation gone, the economy will contract in the first quarter at more than a 5 percent annual rate, Mr. Gault said.

Cutting production means layoffs which will reduce consumption which will reduce orders which means that production will need to be cut which will require more layoffs which will reduce consumption which will reduce orders which means that production will need to be cut which will require more layoffs which will reduce consumption which will reduce orders which means that production will need to be cut which will require more layoffs...

Some caution that President Obama’s proposals try to achieve too many objectives at the expense of focusing tax dollars on the core issue of job creation.

In April, the recession would become the longest since the 1930s.

“We are in the thick of it now,” said Robert Barbera, chief economist for ITG Investment Technology Group.

Regarding the public:

My heart swells in my chest and while I laugh,
I feel fear, smell a faint stench of insanity.

Regarding Obama:

He has to start deciding whom to disappoint.

Recall Sequoia:

Get Real or Go Home.

Two quick reminders from Peter Schiff:

Tens of millions of people unemployed, inflation spiraling out of control, the government instituting price controls that result in shortages and blackouts and long lines for things.

I think things are going to get very bad.

We need a serious recession in this country, and the government needs to get out of the way, and let it happen.