How bad is the recession in the USA?

At a diner in LA, a fellow customer mentions that he is a security guard but has been out of work for 8 months

Someone I meet somwhere in southern California last week says his parents house was woth 210K before the recession and is now worth maybe 90K

at one of my lectures, someone says that everyone in the US personally knows at least one person in financial difficulty because the have been laid off or have lost money in business: "It has never been so bad in living momory: Our parents used to tell us about conditions like this during the 30s, but we've never experienced anything like this till now" Sphere: Related Content