Do we Really Believe the Recession is Ending?

It has been popping all over the news recently about whether not this recession has ended and the claims stating that we have reached the end are starting to become more prominent.

Headlines everywhere are saying things like: The recession is ending! Unemployment is stabilizing! From Wall Street to Washington, the message comes: America, the worst is over. Let the spending begin But it seems that many Americans still don't buy it, so what should we really think?

According to an Associated Press poll conducted in early April, many Americans' impressions of the economy, as well as their own financial status: haven't even budged in a long time. This April, only 25 percent of Americans believed the economy was getting better, the exact same percentage as in September, according to the AP poll. An remarkable 76 percent rated the economy these days as poor, compared with just 21 percent who said the economy was "good" overall.

Recently on Sunday, Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said that the economy is growing faster than the White House expected, and that people are spending more. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke told Congress just last week that growth in demand by consumers and businesses will promote a moderate economic recovery in coming months.

But looking around nationally it does not seem that an "economic recovery" is anywhere to be found. States all over are struggling. For example, Ohio's economy has not recovered but it has actually plummeted in the past year, according to the AP's monthly analysis of conditions in more than 3,100 counties and 50 states. Actually this year inn February, Ohio was the "eighth-most distressed state in the U.S".

Las Vegas, and it's home county of Clark, watched their unemployment rate drastically climb from 10.1 percent to 13.9 percent in the past year. This similar kind of soaring in unemployment rates was seen in California's Central Valley. This California area and surrounding county Merced are places where the unemployment rate remains high, and where 1 out of 16 homes is in some phase of foreclosure.

With all theses jobs and homes being lost it is no wonder Americans are not giving into the claims that recession has ended. We all hope the future will show us something different, we just got to hang in there and do what we can to change our own habits.