Is the U.S. in Economic Recovery?

by Medhanie Estiphanos and Chris Earley 

May 2010

Are we still in a recession? Two Consortium alums tackle this issue.

Medhanie Estiphanos, New York University '08, argues that numbers do lie. He was a senior analyst and policy maker for the Housing Authority for the City of Los Angeles. Most recently he worked at Deloitte Financial Advisory providing consulting services in a wide range of finance areas, including reporting, M&A, and bankruptcy.Medhanie considers himself a victim of the current economic conditions. 

Christopher Earley, The University of Texas at Austin '99, takes the optimistic viewpoint. He serves as the Development Finance Manager for the Department of Housing and Community Development in Washington, DC. In this capacity, he leads the day-to-day management of the agency’s Development Finance Division, which has provided an annual average of approximately $100 million in affordable housing and community development financing to the development community of the District of Columbia over the last three years. Christopher has been certified as a Housing Development Finance Professional by the National Development Council, and is a member of the Urban Land Institute, with over 15 years of finance and real estate experience in both the public and private sectors.

Their debate follows.

THE U.S. IS STILL IN A RECESSION

By Medhanie Estiphanos

Our national economy seems to be in the midst of an identity crisis. According to the University of California Los Angeles' Anderson School forecast, the economy will grow at a 3.2 percent rate for the first quarter of this year, and then level off to about 2 percent, for an overall 2010 growth rate of about 2.3 percent. In 2011 and 2012, GDP is expected to grow at 2.3 and 3.2 percent respectively. Moreover, the Dow and S&P 500 are both up nearly 7 percent. Home sales were up approximately 7 percent in all four regions of the country, although prices were mixed in the West.