Yes, the word recession seems less than appropriate currently. The universe is capable of far larger variety than our human vocabulary after all. Having been a

Yes, the word recession seems less than appropriate currently. The universe is capable of far larger variety than our human vocabulary after all. Having been a first in 100 years pandemic, this last pandemic occurred without precedent in modern history. We probably don’t have a good model for what we’re going through and won’t for years or longer. This Fed opinion piece has some great points related to your point: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=33394486 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=33394486 That author found much of the latest growth in profits attributable to reduction in corporate taxes and not much else. This latest might be a reversion to a market preference for lower P/E ratios. That would look like lower productivity even with the same earnings and thus actual productivity, a clear contradiction. But be careful here. The next thing to write about after headlines of lowered productivity are lowered wages.