Already there and do we care? The soothsayers have slaughtered the ox and are examining the gloppy entrails for signs: rising unemployment, a falling dollar, weak consumer spending, the credit crisis, a swooning stock market. Could there be something wrong here? Could we actually be approaching a, God forbid, recession? To which the only sane response is: Who cares? — Barbara Ehrenreich, The Huffington Post 

Australia and the US recession. The Australian stock market seems especially prone to dramatically fluctuations via the US stock market, whether panic selling or not, if the stock markets are an indicator or bellwether to looming economic doom. Australia, like Brazil and Argentina economically will be affected by recessionary fears and recessionary conditions in the US. How large will that effect be? — Morbius Glass

What does sub-prime mean in Oz? If there is one thing we have all learnt from the current sub-prime crisis, it is that Australia’s big four banks do, indeed, borrow heavily on world markets, to finance the loans they make to this country’s mostly young home buyers. What, then, are the implications of the US sub-prime crisis for Australian already overheated property markets? — Private Briefing

Recession is old news. The boys (and girls) at Goldman Sachs came out with their forecast for a recession yesterday, joining the brokerage that owns a bull. But as my friends, Addison and Ian, over at The 5 Minute Forecast said the other day… “According to our analysis, this isn’t even a forecast any more, but is a present-day reality.” That’s right, because if you are a reader of this Pfennig – or The 5-Minute Forecast – you’ve heard about the United States being in a recession long before these guys in the BIG brokerage houses and their multi-million dollar research teams even had the thought cross their collective minds! — The Daily Reckoning

How to profit from recession. It seems like everywhere you turn right now, everyone is talking about a coming economic recession. The news, politicians, financial forecasters, etc, etc. A lot of people agree. And a lot of people don’t agree. (Personally, I think the easiest way for a recession to happen is to have a lot of people talking about a coming recession.) But I digress. Historically, when a recession DOES, in fact, happen, what’s the first budget to get cut within companies? That’s right, the marketing and advertising budgets. It never fails. But what about those programs a handful of companies put into place that engages and empowers their customers to own the message and ultimately own the brand? What happens when there’s no money or at least a budget that gets cut? Well, built from the beginning with sustainability as a focus, they can not only survive, but thrive. — Brains on Fire