Sometimes Payday loans were blamed for the credit crisis happening in the economy, but clearly not the reason for the economic disaster in America. The National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) group identifies peak activity at that point, and the U.S. economy has been declining ever since. NBER defines recession as "a significant decline in economic activity spread across the economy, lasting more than a few months, normally visible in production, employment, real income, and other indicators." The government, academics and the private sector generally consider NBER�s judgment the authority on the matter, so it�s as close to official as possible. The determination is made based upon employment, incomes, industrial output and sales data. Employment and incomes peaked that December, industrial output peaked in January and sales peaked in June. Democrats said this wasn�t surprising and called for an economic stimulus package. According to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nevada, "The announcement simply makes official what we have long known: with rising costs of living, rising unemployment, record foreclosures and depleted savings, we must do more to help families make ends meet." Not ceding to banks� desire to ban pay day loans would help, too. Reid said a recovery package must create good-paying jobs in the U.S., cut middle class taxes and instill confidence to stabilize the market. Just to show you that this works in cycles, America had experienced expansion from November 2001 to December 2007. That�s 73 months, a long cycle. One expansion lasted 120 months. However, the average expansion since the end of World War II is 57 months. For more info on Payday Loans, click the link.