Technically speaking from a more layman view of a 2 consecutive decrease in GDP, it is not a recession as the first quarter of 2008 gives a paltry 0.9% growth. The National Bureau of Economic Research has not announced the recession yet. But of course that does not mean that we are not in a recession as GDP is a lagging indicator.
I think we are getting caught up in technicalities and technical analysis rather than focusing more on issues/solutions.
Even in southern cali, good businesses are almost impossible to find at a good price because if you have a good business that is surviving these economic conditions than you treat it like a diamond or gold.
Some parts of the US are in a recession like California where the unemployment rate is 6.6%. Other states that are in a recession are Ohio and Michigan. Farm and oil producing states like Wyoming, North and South Dakota, and Texas are better.
I use a unique deflator based on subsistence living and ROI of a diverse investment portfolio.. I call it "the personal budget of a fiscal conservative" and I figure that the recession started in Q3 2007.
4th quarter 2007 was revised down to -0.2% and 1st quarter 2008 was 0.9%. At the least it's vey close to a recession. I would expect NBER to declare one. Unemployment is a lagging indicator and it's not at 5.7% with 6 months of job losses. I would expect that in 2009 we have a 'double dip' recession.