More Signs of Trouble Ahead

From the NYTimes:

The economy at the end of last year contracted at a far faster rate than initially estimated, a government report released Friday said, suggesting that the recession may be deeper and more severe than recent projections have indicated.

The country's gross domestic product fell at an annualized rate 6.2 percent in the last quarter of 2008, the steepest decline since the 1982 recession. Economists are expecting a similar drop in the first quarter of 2009.

"What a ghastly report," said John Ryding, chief economist at RDQ Economics. "This will almost certainly be the longest postwar recession, and now potentially the deepest one as well."