If there is negative growth for 2 consecutive quarters, then the economy is in recession. If there is positive growth later, then the economy can be said to have recovered. There aren't any recessions that "maybe" involve negative growth, that's like saying there are some horses that might be hot-air balloons.
Also, if the economy is slowing down, and someone labels it a recession, they are very wrong. However, the r-word tends to get picked up and thrown around, even when an economy is doing fine.
Economies tend to go through recessions, or periods of slow-to-negative growth around every ten years.
Economic reporting is, to be honest, pretty dreadful.

That is a good summary and I agree with it. Pretty much what I mean.

-S

Well ok, die was a bit extreme, but health bills are the number one cause of bankruptcy in the US. So most people, rationally prefer pauperisation to death.

Just doesn't happen in the UK though.

It could be argued that illegal aliens in the US actually benefit the US economy by acting as a large store of cheap labour which in turn keeps the price of production down and therefore the price of certain products (eg farm produce). Would be interesting to calculate the effect that the removal of this invisible workforce, would have on the US economy.

I like Paul Krugman, he's an economist who knows how to write clearly, which is by no means common!
On foreign policy he sometimes irritates me, but in his own field he's hard to fault.

Yep, but what you are forgetting is that insurance is a choice in AMerica. You are not denied insurance. People choose not to have it. Families that do this can go bankrupt, and bankruptcy used to be the way out of your poor planning.

Bankruptcy over here is not a case where they take everything away from you either. You won't be able to keep the million in the bank though if you declare it, but they won't take every last red cent from you either. THis is your own fault.

If you can't afford the insurance due to poverty, they even give you welfare and medicare to cover it! So I don't buy that argument that people are uninsured. If you're an old man or lady, you again get medicare, so again, you are insured.

Then again, some bleeding heart will have problem with this too, saying that man or woman should be insured regardless that they chose not to. When I was in my 20's, I wasn't insured either, and there was no way I would cut into my party money - but this was my choice back then, just like it is theirs now. And if they don't want it, then its not my fault that they get hurt and might go through bankruptcy when they don't have anything for the bankruptcy court to take in the first place - so no loss on their part!

Peoples poor planning is not the fault of the government. It is not like someone didn't educate them on the subject. It is a case of choice!

-S

Won't see it in my lifetime, but hopefully one day we'll realize were all citizens of one planet. Borders are nothing more than lines on a map.

That would be great, but forget about it since there is always someone that wants your land, your possesions, and will want to take them from you forcefully. THis is why you have borders - birds of a feather tend to flock together.

-S

So what happens if your insurer refuses to pay up?

That's when the real war will start. :yep:

all this division!
 

123456

True :yep:

Why wouldn't they? The only time they won't is if you're such a blockhead and opt for an experimental proceedure that costs $500K without clearing it with them first. They will tell you straight up if they will pay, and if a proceedure is normal, they have no choice by law. Trust me, tha alternative to refusing to pay will probably cost them 10x over or more, so you don't hear of too many refusing to pay! :D

When you have an insurance policy, you have a contract that they are legally bound to.

-S

You're a piece of mind, Subman. And so innocent...

If mountains count
 

123456

India is generally considered to be a subcontinent. I used to be seperate, then crashed into Asia, creating the Himalayas.

I guess Europe is a rather large peninsula, yet historically and culturally could be considered a continent. Geologically, there are many differences between Europe and Asia, delineated by the Urals