Yesterday the National Bureau of Economic Research, the official recession party starter, announced the recession was well underway and has been since December 2007. Taking a year to make it official may have caused national exasperation [1], but waiting until the weekend after its Friday meeting may have saved Black Friday. Bless us all!

Sales rose three percent from last year [2], which while modest is far from the decline feared. Considering Monday's news of the recession sent the Dow into its fourth largest drop ever (fourth? OK, a very big drop), an announcement on Friday surely would have saddened the national shopping spirit. Does such a seemingly deliberate move anger or comfort you?

Source [3]