What Caused This Terrible Recession?

"The first 12 months of the U.S. recession saw the economy shrink more than twice as much as previously estimated, reflecting even bigger declines in consumer spending and housing, revised figures showed.

The world’s largest economy contracted 1.9 percent from the fourth quarter of 2007 to the last three months of 2008, compared with the 0.8 percent drop previously on the books, the Commerce Department said yesterday in Washington. Gross domestic product has shrunk 3.9 percent in the past year, the report said, indicating the worst slump since the Great Depression." - Bloomberg.com, by Bob Willis (http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=aNivTjr852TI; accessed 8/01/09)

The above is just more evidence to remind the reader that the financial meltdown on Wall Street (leading to the bailouts) in the late fall of '09 did not cause the current recession. The key factors were:

1.) Record high, critically high, oil prices

2.) Clamping down on credit by the federal reserve to dampen rampant speculation in residential real estate.

Under the Democrats, essentially noting has been done about cause number one, which means high energy costs may keep killing economic rebounds indefinitely unless more is done to search for, and develop, fossil fuel resources, and to develop nuclear power.