It's NOT A Recession!!

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/24308472/?GT1=43001

I'm adding the link to the whole article here, but what I want to focus on is just this one part:

'"It’s obvious our economy is in a slowdown,' Bush said.
Earlier this week, the president denied the nation was in a recession, instead saying, 'We are in a slowdown.' But many economists believe the economy may already be in a recession.
A trio of crises — housing, credit and financial — has threatened to plunge the economy deep into recession.
The economy grew at an anemic 0.6 percent in the final three months of last year and is believed to have gotten even weaker in the first three months of this year. The government will report on the first quarter’s performance next week. A growing number of analysts believe the economy is shrinking now." (emphasis, italics mine)

I've said it before, and I'm saying it again: A recession is TWO CONSECUTIVE QUARTERS of NEGATIVE GROWTH. This article admits that the economy grew last quarter, however small the growth may have been. Even if the numbers from this latest quarter show a shrinkage, it is still not a recession. It's slowdown. Bush is correct in calling it such. If we do end up in a recession, I will be more than happy to admit that we're in one. But until then, the economy is in a slowdown. My personal opinion is that these media outlets know that the word "recession" carries a harsher connotation than "slowdown" in the ears of voters. And tying the word "recession" to a Republican president is a cheap way to manipulate voters. I wish they would knock it off. (I know, I know... wish and one hand and do you-know-what in the other and see which one fills up first...)