clipped from: www.boston.com   
The US economy may have slid into a recession, and the risks are growing for a long and deep downturn, economists said.

A recession is defined as several consecutive months of broadly declining economic activity. As a result, it won't become clear whether the country is in a recession until several months after it has started. Many economists say the recent stream of bad economic news makes it almost certain the United States is in a recession. It may have started in December.

Yesterday's employment report represents the strongest evidence of a recession yet, economists said.

"The difference between a slow growing economy and recessions is you descend into self-reinforcing negative cycles in which these things feed upon themselves," said Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody's Economy.com. "We seem to have slipped into this negative vortex."