Each month, the Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA), an agency of the U.S. Department of Commerce, releases an estimate of the level and growth of U.S. gross domestic product (GDP), the output of goods and services produced by labor and property located in the United States.

1. What data from the BEA announcement supports the NBER decision that the U.S. is in a recession?

2. What measures did the U.S. government take to increase GDP during this time?

3. Recent GDP Data in Detail - the BEA's January 29, 2010 real GDP estimates is a detailed breakdown of the data by sector and specific types of goods and services, investments, and trade, from 2006 through 2009. Take a good look at the data. What are the areas of growth and decline? Was the data (growth rates) consistent throughout the period of time?

Go to the BEA web page, "National Income and Product Accounts Table, Selected Per Capita Product and Income Series in Current and Chained Dollars." What are some of the changes over the years since you were born?