George Jacoby "Recessions" are cyclical and not caused by presidents. Usually presidents react to them. Recessions are caused by global events, federal reserve choices, we the people or other global occurrences. So here's a little recession history: 1980-1982 Recession -The economy suffered a double whammy of two recessions. There was one during the first six months of 1980 (January - July) and another that lasted 16 months from July 1981 to November 1982.

The Fed caused it by raising interest rates to combat inflation. That reduced business spending.

The Iranian oil embargo aggravated it by reducing U.S. oil supplies. That constrained supply and drove up prices.

GDP was negative for six of the 12 quarters. The worst was Q2 1980 …show more content…
The 1989 Savings and Loan Crisis caused it. GDP was -3.4 percent in Q4 1990 and -1.9 percent in Q1 1991.

2001 Recession
The 2001 recession lasted eight months (March-November 2001). It was caused by the Y2K scare in 2000. This created a boom and subsequent bust in dot-com businesses. The 9/11 attack worsened it. The economy contracted in two quarters: Q1 -1.1 percent (-0.5 percent) and Q3 -1.3 percent (-1.4 percent). Unemployment reached 5.7 percent during the recession, but rose even further to 6 percent in June 2003. This often happens in recessions, as unemployment is a lagging indicator. Most employers wait until they are sure the economy is back on its feet again before hiring permanent …show more content…
It was also the longest since the Depression, lasting 18 months (December 2007 - June 2009). The subprime mortgage crisis was the trigger. That created a global banking bank credit crisis.

The economy shrank in five quarters, including four quarters in a row. Two quarters contracted more than 5 percent, including Q4 2008 which fell a whopping 8.2 percent, more than any other recession since the Great Depression. The recession ended in Q3 2009, when GDP turned positive, thanks to the economic stimulus package.

The Bureau of Economic Analysis revises its GDP estimates as it gets new data. It often recalibrates its estimates in June of each year. Here's the final estimate (made in June 2016) followed by the initial estimate (made one month after the quarter ended). This helps shows how difficult it is to correct a recession until it's already started. It also reminds you how difficult it is to time the market with your investments.

2008

Q1 The economy shrank 2.7 percent. Initially, the BEA thought it grew 0.6 percent.
Q2 The economy rebounded 2.0 percent The initial release said it grew 1.9 percent. Everyone thought the Fed's rescue of Bear Stearns ended the threat to financial