But a U.S. Treasury Official Says We're Not In Total Financial Freefall!

The Dow is down 370 points (2.5%) while the NASDAQ and S&P500 make similar terrible plunges, unemployment shot up the most since 1986, oil hit $138 and gasoline costs $4.50 a gallon at the start of summer, teen-age unemployment hasn't been this bad since 1948, the housing collapse is really just beginning, foreclosures are at another new record high, even 3.5% of "prime" mortgages are now heading into default, and the dollar is worth a mumbled "Fuck you" in French. Things are looking up!

"I don't think we're in a recession and the data suggests that we're not," Treasury Assistant Secretary for Economic Policy Phillip Swagel said in a press briefing today.

 Treasury Department official says the US is not in a recession [Forbes]