Well, the fact is, for most Americans, the economic downturn is not new. The expansion of the past few years (which was not even particularly vigorous) has benefited only the wealthiest. Workers have been losing ground throughout the Bush administration. The contraction is just tightening the noose they were already feeling.

There's no telling how bad this will get.

or, perhaps, just as likely, it's because we're already a number of months into a recession that hasn't officially been called yet.

We're not a couple of months into *this* recession yet. Cervantes is correct and when the noose of *this* recession tightens it will be much, much worse for those people this time.

Also, I will note that the tightening to which Cervantes refers, *really* started in the 1990s. A lot of corporate employees were laid off and effectively downsized then. Coporations removed much of the structure of middle management that had provided decent corporate jobs for babyboomers and never put it back.

The broad based beneficial effects of the internet revolution and the tech bubble are somewhat mythologized as well. A former corporate manager downsized into retail already ain't too happy in 1997, even if sales clerks were paid something above minimum wage due to a tight labor market. I used to meet these downsized managers-- and by people I mean middle aged babyboomers-- in retail environments all the time. (And, happy about it, they weren't).

But, you know. Keep on believing what the press and the stats tell you-- the stats don't track that.