BAD HARDWARE WEEK

Bush: I did it in electoral year.

Many economists believe the current downturn could be the worst since the recession of 1980-1982, when the U.S. unemployment rate soared above 10 percent.

The bureau's cautious approach can have big political ramifications. Not until December 1992 did it declare that the 1990 recession had ended in March 1991 - well before Bill Clinton drove the first President Bush out office with his "It's the economy, stupid!" mantra.

"It took the National Bureau a long time to declare the recession was over," said Annelise Anderson, a Hoover Institution scholar who served in the Office of Management and Budget in the Reagan administration.