There has been a lot of chatter about the recession. Many ideas contradicting other theories. There are two that ring true to me. One is that many of the past recessions took the shape of a V on a graph. The economy drops dramatically low but eventually bounces back to where it was. But this one will take the shape of the square root sign. The economy dips like a V but never fully recovers. It only comes back 3/4 of the way. 

The second theory that sounds true but is depressing when you think about, is that the recovery time of this recession will be a lot longer than the others. Each of the previous recessions had at least one strong force pulling it up and out of the recession, consumer spending, manufacturers building up inventory or foreign investments. Presently none of these driving forces are in play and they do not seem to be on the near horizon.  Hart Hodges of Western Washington University is a thought provoking speaker that puts all the studies and data in perspective and has some great insight regarding these times.

Recessions do force businesses  to rethink there strategies and business models. Many recover with new innovations and as a leaner organization provided higher quality service and products with less wait time for the customers.  The Lean Enterprise Institute has a great article and interview with a president that has made great progress in shipping the customers orders that night.