Recession?

This story about job cuts made it above the fold of both CNN and MSNBC this morning. What I don’t understand is, why does everyone keep saying we may be heading into a recession?

“For the first time, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke acknowledged Wednesday that the country could be heading toward a recession, saying federal policymakers are ‘fighting against the wind’ in combating it. Many other economists and the public believe the recession already has arrived.”

I’ll be the first one to say that I am not an economical whiz, but I keep reading these articles and hearing about the housing collapse, losing 80,000 jobs in one month, etc. etc., so with all that happening, at what point are we actually in a recession? It is kind of like how we “never went to war with Vietnam.” What is the harm in saying the truth and working to fix it instead of ignoring it and making people paranoid over the prospect of recession? The article says the job cuts were a result of employers concerns about a potential recession, so obviously not saying it isn’t really helping anyone.

All of his makes so gosh darn excited about having graduated college in December.