No, the economy really did not tank in the first half of the year. You could be excused for thinking it did. After all, gross domestic product plunged at a 2.9% annualized rate in the first three months of the year, according to the government’s Bureau of Economic Analysis. Which means that, even if GDP rebounds at a 3.2% rate in the second quarter, as expected, the level of real GDP at the end of June would be scarcely higher than it was in December. Two quarters of essentially no growth sounds a lot like a recession. Should we be worried? Not at all. Almost certainly we are not in a recession, nor are we heading ... (full story)