Quite, honestly, I think we've been in a recession since about 2001

I would agree with that, or say longer than 2007. I think it just really got noticed when the gas prices soar so high. That really depreciated our dollar value.

Why? Does establishing a date really make a difference to anyone, except for the fools (studies, experts, statistics etc) who get paid to predict such nonsence?

Without getting into technical and fundamental aspects of financial analysis, the following are the best ways to explain or define a recession from a depression - using every-day plain, ordinary English: The definition of a "recession": When your neighbor is out of work and broke. The definition of a "depression": When YOU ARE out of work and broke! To give you a small explanation of what the financial analysts, investors and traders look for, I think I have to give you a bit of background. In the typical year there are 365 calendar days. Not including weekends and legal holidays (most people refer to these as "national holidays") there are approximately 200 days when the stock market is open and doing business. The companies which are publicly traded in the stock market typically have a specific day when they publicly announce how well or not-so-well that company did, financially, during the previous three months. AND on many occasions the company discusses or discloses how well or not-so-well the company is expected to do for the projected one or two upcoming quarters as for the upcoming fiscal year. This occurs about once every three months. These are commonly referred to as the "Earnings Announcement Date". The better way to describe this: Earnings occur about 4 times each year or every 3 months. ALL companies do not report earnings at the same time and on the same day each and every year. The Earnings Announcement Date usually occurs in one of these three cycles: In March, June, September and December of the current year. In April, July, October and January of the following year. In May, August, November and February of the following year. In each 3-month period or quarter there are approximately 50 trading days. Many times when an analyst, investor or trader looks at a particular company's stocks chart AND/OR the market's chart, he or she ALWAYS notices trends. These are times when the stock or market goes up and goes down. Along with those trends there MAY ALSO BE lines which are known as Moving Averages or "M.A.'s". The most common MAs are the 200-day Moving Average and the 50-day Moving Average. ALL that information is leading to this very easy to understand EXAMPLE: A stock's 200-day MA is $40. AND that same stock's 50-Day MA is $35. WHEN that 50-day MA line is BELOW the 200-day MA, this indicates a "Bull" market. A stock's 200-day MA is $35. AND that same stock's 50-Day MA is $40. WHEN that 50-day MA line is ABOVE the 200-day MA, this indicates a "Bear" market. That MA principle applies for each individual stock as well as for any index or fopr the overall market. ding so Thanks for asking your Q! I did my best toanswer it! VTY, Ron Berue Yes, that is my real last name! Sources: My wonderful family! My wonderful coaches and mentors! TWO [2] of THE ABSOLUTE BEST, MOST wonderful trading groups in the world, which I am most proud to be a member of! Trading stocks and options more than 3 years. "THE University of Hard Knocks" Also known as ("a/k/a") "life's valuable lessons".