As far as I know and I stand to be corrected it is all to do with figures i.e. bad data negative figures,for so many months so therefore coming out of recession good figures, good data, over so many months, no one can say for sure when we will come out of a recession as you say its all new to us on this scale ,I personally think this is all to do with people not spending money as they are unsecure in their jobs, therefore IF this government can guarantee income for so long IF somebody is made redundant then we can all take a positive view and go forward. Wow this could open a big can of worms.