There is a great article on MarketWatch, <a href="http://tinyurl.com/ytphhq">citing the three of indicators showing the signs of a recession</a>.
<strong>It's much too soon for an official judgment on whether the U.S. economy has fallen into a recession, but early indications show that a recession may have already begun. </strong>
<p><em> Of the five monthly economic indicators used to judge whether the U.S. economy has fallen into a recession, three are declining and one other is flattening out. Three of the five numbers peaked in September. Only one has grown with any vigor over the past few months, but it's starting to look weaker. </em></p>
<p><em>calling a recession is as much art as science.</em></p>
<p><em> The numbers now in hand are preliminary, subject to large revisions. What now seems very weak could be revised to show significant growth. That's why the academics who decide whether we've been in a recession wait a long time before making a judgment. </em></p>
<p><em> In some cases, the most recent data are more than two months old, a frustrating delay for those who want to know what's happening right now. What now looks like a peak in activity could turn out to be a local peak or a false top, with the economy regaining strength in the next few months. </em></p>
<p><em> "There are a lot of local peaks that don't mean anything," said Chris Varvares, president of Macroeconomic Advisers, an economic forecasting firm. </em></p>
<p><em>The evidence currently available is by no means definitive about a recession, but it is not encouraging.</em></p>
<p><em>There's no easy formula for analyzing the five indicators and only a fool would try to do it in real time.</em></p>
<p>Personally, I have seen a mixed amount of business at restaurants. Some seem to be jam packed, and others seem to be dead. I checked out bizben for restaurants for sale, and there was 300 restaurant related, of the 971 total businesses for sale in OC. Seems high to me, but I will try to check for updates to see if it is.</p>
<p>What I do know, are the jobs in the restaurant service industry are down year over year for December. Of the 1200 jobs lost, 700 of them were in the full-service restaurant service sector. Does anyone want to take a guess... in what year that there was a YOY job loss in that sector for December in the last 17 years? Here is a hint... there has only been 1 year that has happened.
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