Are we in a Recession or  Depression?

That depends on who you are and what you're doing. If you have a job, it's  Recession.  if not--well, it's the big D. If you're buying a house, it may be tough times, but hey. If you're selling, or thinking about it, you're seeing your property values drop like the mercury during a cold front, it's a Depression.

Real estate sales activity may be up, but compared to what? Last month? The month before? Sales volume in our area is about what it was in 2000, and maybe less.  I hear daily from people who are either behind on their mortgage payments or about to be. Do they sell? Sit tight? Walk away?

Can they sell? What's going to happen when the next wave of foreclosures hits? Homeowners watch their equity evaporate, just like the value in their retirement portfolios.  Work until we're 68? Right.  I'm thinking it will be more like 98, if I'm lucky.

Today, I read something that referred to the L-shaped recovery we're in. That's a new one on me, but it sounded good. Well, not "good," but reasonable.  But if the tail of the L is too long, isn't that close to flatlining?

It's almost as though the Y2K think happened eight years later than it was supposed to have.  And it's hard to say where we're going.

And we won't know until we get there, and we won't know what happened until it's over.