The Continent had been in a mild recession, then last quarter it turned decidedly ugly.
We survived stock shocks in 1987 and 1989 and a mild recession in 1990.
Let us assume the default rate in a mild recession would be somewhat lower, say 7%.
Looking at the US specifically, the IMF believes it will go into a "mild recession" this year.
Most obviously, how these countries fare will determine whether the world economy faces a mild recession or something nastier.
On the other side of the Atlantic, there are already fears that Britain may have a mild recession next year.
The IMF said in January that it expected the eurozone to experience a "mild recession" in 2013, having previously predicted growth.
Despite its umbilical links with America, Canada's economy suffered only a mild recession and is now well into a solid recovery.
By raising interest rates to prick the bubble of inflation, the Fed induces a mild recession that is particularly hard on smaller companies.
Despite some 10 million veterans flooding the civilian workforce, unemployment never exceeded 5%, until the mild recession of 1949 temporarily boosted it to 6%.
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He allowed the opposition to bully him into an economic stimulus programme in 2009 to mitigate what turned out to be a fairly mild recession.
The economy is emerging from last year's brief and mild recession.
Since 1999, total car sales in America have averaged around 17m a year, even through the mild recession of 2001 though they dipped a bit this summer.
What should of been a mild recession after 2001 has been turned into a total global financial disaster by the policies of the Federal Reserve private bank.
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That is hard to know, and rather beside the point: economists aside, few are excited by the difference between a mild recession and a period of sluggish growth.
Holger Schmieding, an economist at Berenberg Bank, thinks that a loss of confidence will push the German economy into a mild recession in late 2011 and early 2012.
This crisis has been under way for a little over a year and unemployment is just over 6%, lower even than in the wake of the last, mild recession.
The bubble will eventually burst anyway, but it would have been better to prick it sooner at the cost of a mild recession than to risk a deeper recession later.
That is a relatively optimistic prediction, for it would merely return the bankruptcy rate close to its long-term average after an abnormally trouble-free period, and it assumes only a mild recession in America.
That policy may bring even higher inflation and higher oil prices in the short-run, and force the Fed to abandon it in the future, postponing a mild recession now to a deeper recession tomorrow.
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Mr Cliffe estimates that following an orderly and well-managed Greek exit one with very limited contagion and some continuing support to Greece from the euro zone and IMF the euro area would suffer an extra first-year GDP loss of 1.6%, making a mild recession harsher.
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The International Monetary Fund had already projected that the 17-nation euro zone will be in a mild recession this year, and now has warned that European governments need to be careful how quickly they cut back on government spending in an effort to tackle their record government debt, warning that steep budget cuts now will slow growth further and worsen the situation.
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The Street had lost its way and precipitated the rather mild 2001 recession.
But massive ease by the Fed, accompanied by fiscal stimulus from tax rebates and cuts (and spending on homeland security and military operations in Afghanistan and Iraq) kept the 2001 recession mild and the zeal for high yield intact.
Despite lasting six months longer than originally thought, the 2001 recession was still remarkably mild by historical standards, shallower even than the 1991 recession that cost George Bush senior the election.
The Federal Reserve America's central bank has got much of the credit for ensuring that last year's recession was mild, and with the interest-rate cut announced last month it has demonstrated its willingness to try to nudge the recovery along as much as it can.
The 2008 recession may be mild, but the 2009 recovery will be feeble.
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