If you look closely at our home page, you might notice a subtle change at the top of our channel selections.
Basically, weve renamed the Financial Crisis Center as the Financial Recovery Center. We introduced the Financial Crisis Center about a year ago when the economy looked its bleakest. However, there have been hopeful signs of late, including the Dow hitting the 10,000 mark, and more economists these days are saying the recession is over.
That doesnt mean the danger has passed, of course. The Labor Department announced last week that unemployment reached 10.2 percent. Some economists are warning that we may experience a double-dip recession if unemployment doesnt decrease in the months ahead, with its related impact on consumer demand. Some are even calling for another stimulus package to be enacted, despite the record budget deficit and national debt.
Obama administration officials have said they want to wait until more of Februarys stimulus package works its way into the economy before they try to propose another stimulus package. Instead they seem to be taking the approach of pushing mini-stimulus measures, like last weeks passage of an extension to the First-Time Homebuyers Credit, and following an incremental approach to pumping up the economy.
In any case, the time seemed right to rename our Financial Crisis Center now that the crisis feeling of last autumn has passed. Hopefully the recovery will be a continuing process that well see over the next year.
If not, we may have to think of another name for our channel.