Strange Recession

Falling confidence, weak dollar, wasting employment, backtracking GDP. many things point to a recession, but it's certainly an odd one.

Productivity is rising, for instance, and is up 3.2% this year. That's not the kind of thing you see in China, but it's a good strong number for the U.S., and in a recession, any gains are unusual.

Even more puzzling, capacity utilization is also high at 80.1%, though that is down a half percent from last month. In short words, factories and businesses are running briskly, using 80% of available space and resources. We never hit 100%. An 85% level would be the equivalent of all hands on deck.