Recession is as Recession does

There has been a flurry of economic “rhetoric” in the media lately, and today is no exception.  Today, the Labor department announced that nonfarm payrolls fell again, thus unemployment has risen to 5.1%.  If you listen to the Cable New Nitwits, you might think the sky was falling.  It’s not.  Any unemployment rate below 6% is excellent.  Sure, we’re in a recession, but the data shows that firms had already cut production, lowering inventories, before the recession began, so the “big axe” isn’t going to come, ceteris paribus.  This recession is not going to be like the 80’s where unemployment was upwards of 8%.