Getting Better?

If you follow the stock market, look at the earnings of major banks, marvel at the hubris of the financial industry, you might think that the recession is over. Well, we know that it was not over in 2008 according to the Census Bureau's latest report of living standards in this country. Median household income had the steepest year-over-year drop in the past forty years. The income, when adjusted for inflation, was equal to that of 1997, i.e., all gains made in the ensuing decade vanished in 2008. Do you think that the numbers will be any better for 2009?