Monitoring the Economy

In the background of the breakfast scene, a local news broadcast discusses the rapidly deteriorating American economy. This episode aired in May 2009 in the midst of the Great Recession. Interestingly, despite one of the worst time periods in American economic history, the White family seems unbothered by the news. The NBER is the agency responsible for classifying whether the economy experienced a recession, but they often don’t make the announcement until well after the recession has concluded. As a result, families often aren’t aware just how bad things will become in the middle of a recession.

See more: Great Recession, housing market, inflation, recessions, Unemployment