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- <text id=90TT3312>
- <title>
- Dec. 10, 1990: Business Notes:The Economy
- </title>
- <history>
- TIME--The Weekly Newsmagazine--1990
- Dec. 10, 1990 What War Would Be Like
- </history>
- <article>
- <source>Time Magazine</source>
- <hdr>
- BUSINESS, Page 73
- Business Notes
- THE ECONOMY
- Don't Say That Word!
- </hdr>
- <body>
- <p> Now that most private economists have declared that the U.S.
- is in a recession, top government leaders began edging toward
- the R word last week. Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan
- became the first to acknowledge that the economy is shrinking
- when he told a congressional committee that "a meaningful
- downturn" had occurred in October and November and the GNP
- would probably decline for the fourth quarter as a whole. But
- Greenspan stopped short of calling the downturn a recession,
- which is officially defined as two straight quarters of a
- falling GNP. Said he: "We won't know whether it is the beginning
- of a recession or just some aberration for quite a while."
- </p>
- <p> The Bush Administration also chose its words carefully.
- White House spokesman Marlin Fitzwater said the U.S. was in a
- "slowdown," while President Bush called the economy "sluggish."
- Meanwhile, the Commerce Department reported that the GNP grew
- a weak 1.7% in the July-September period, down slightly from
- the previous estimate. Most of the growth came before Iraq
- invaded Kuwait on Aug. 2.
- </p>
-
- </body>
- </article>
- </text>
-
-