Business Blog: Hoover’s Business Insight Zone

From where I sit, the signs are mounting that the United States has entered a recession — or else is entering a recession, or else will very soon.  Latest anecdotal information:

Americans late payers on most loans since 2001

NEW YORK, Jan 3 (Reuters) - Americans are falling further behind on consumer loans, with late payments rising to the highest level since the nation’s last recession in 2001, data released Thursday show.

True, it is just an anecdote, not a total picture of the economy, but it seems to be part of a drumbeat.

In any event, if it looks like a duck, and walks like a duck, and quacks like a duck . . . for practical purposes, it makes sense to think of it as a duck.  Maybe it’s selection bias on my part, but I see plenty of cues in the business news that indicate that lots of business decision-makers are acting like we’re in a recession already.

It will be interesting to see if/when the official word comes down verifying this hunch.