Double Dip Week: Calculated Risk

Double Dip Discussion
Calculated Risk
July 17, 2010

The frequency of "double dip" searches keeps increasing, see Google Trends ...
Paul Krugman writes: De Facto Double Dips

Let’s be clear: a recovery that involves growth so slow that unemployment and excess capacity rise, not fall, isn’t really a recovery. If we have only have 1 1/2 percent growth, that will amount to a double dip in all the senses that matter.

I've been focused on a technical double dip (see Recession Dating and a "Double Dip"), but I agree with Krugman that a further slowdown - following the below trend first half of 2010 - will definitely feel like a recession - and it will probably lead to an unemployment rate "double dip".
And from Nouriel Roubini: Double-Dip Days

The global economy, artificially boosted since the recession of 2008-2009 by massive monetary and fiscal stimulus and financial bailouts, is headed towards a sharp slowdown this year as the effect of these measures wanes.
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At best, we face a protracted period of anemic, below-trend growth in advanced economies as deleveraging by households, financial institutions, and governments starts to feed through to consumption and investment.
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The global slowdown – already evident in second-quarter data for 2010 – will accelerate in the second half of the year. ... The likely scenario for advanced economies is a mediocre U-shaped recovery, even if we avoid a W-shaped double dip. In the US, annual growth was already below trend in the first half of 2010 (2.7% in the first quarter and estimated at a mediocre 2.2% in April-June). Growth is set to slow further, to 1.5% in the second half of this year and into 2011.
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Fasten your seat belts for a very bumpy ride.

The 2nd half slowdown is here. I still think we will avoid a technical double-dip recession, but it will probably feel like one.

Some day growth will pickup again. The debt problems will be with us for some time, but one of the keys for more growth is absorption of excess capacity. New investment is already happening for semiconductor manufacturing (see AMAT and other semi-equipment manufactures, and the WSJ Applied Materials Boosts Revenue Forecast)

But there is too much capacity in most of the economy. We see this in housing (the good news is there will be a record low number of new housing units delivered this year), and in overall industrial capacity utilization. As an example, domestic auto production is still about 25% below the level of 2006 - so there is no need to expand production. There is also excess capacity in office space, retail space, and other categories of commercial real estate.

The U.S. population is still growing, new households are being formed, and eventually this excess capacity will be absorbed. Until then the recovery will be sluggish and choppy (at best) ... and there are still the debt issues.

As Nouriel wrote: "Fasten your seat belts for a very bumpy ride."