When the economy starts showing an ominous downward spiral, companies begin to cut jobs, wages start to decrease, the expressions on most business analysts’ faces seem to oscillate from grave to somber, and then you know that an economic recession has finally hit home. However, when exactly the current spell or financial despair began enveloping corporations and businesses all over the world is still a debatable issue. A common definition dictates that recession begins when the gross domestic product (GDP) shows a negative growth for two successive quarters. The National Bureau of Economic…