Column: Economic data show new recession for Americans

Sometimes the worst part of the economic forecasting I do is the sinking feeling my predictions will be right.

So it came to pass this month with the release of fourth-quarter 2012 data on growth of the U.S. economy. The shrinking of the economy in fourth quarter by a slight 0.1 percent almost certainly marks a new American recession.

Indeed, because we have good data back to World War II, there has been no quarterly decline in GDP on record without a recession.

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