Now that some economists are saying our almost 2-year-old recession is over, I think it's time we name it something. You know, like we name hurricanes...Katrina, Andrew...Rita.

Maybe we should even have a national center that names them - like the National Hurricane Center names hurricanes -- we could have a National Recession Center to do the job.

Each year, the center could put out a list of names in alphabetical order. If that year has a recession, we just check a name off that list.

Students reading about economic history would have an easy way to remember the worst recession since the Great Depression. Government leaders, policy makers and businesses would have a ready made reference point to separate all the recessions we've had.

Psychologically, by putting a name on it, maybe it would be easier to box up and leave behind.

Turns out, there may be some value in that.

"(A name) would have a different meaning for each person," said Joann Moran, a cinical psychologist who teaches a class in San Marino with her husband on coping with the financial crisis.

People would rename it to be "less overwelming, where they can frame it in the context of something they have some power over."

And maybe the name could even have some accountability built into it, she said.

Some ideas come to mind.

Howabout Subprime Recession , after institutions that ran wild with adjustable rate and low-documentation loans that led to the housing meltdown, which in turn led to the fall of the financial system?

Howabout Recession Lehman - for the fall of Lehman Bros., the biggest bank failure in history?

Recession Greenspan?

Hmmm.

I don't know. I guess the name depends on who you are talking to.

What we do know is that this is the worst recession since the Great Depression.

That's why a lot of people are calling it the Great Recession, said Jack Kyser, founding economist for the Los Angeles Economic Development Corp.

It's not quite a depression, but it's the worst of the recessions, he said.

That works for me. Only one problem...Nothing about 12.7 percent unemployment - over 15 percent in some valley areas - is particularly great...not great at all.

But anything, anything to look back during better times and to give the last two years a name.

It's not so much so that we can remember it. It's more about putting a name on something that has harmed us, so we can beat it back, punch it, beat it and hope to God we learn from it and never see anything like it again.

By the way, if you've got any ideas for a name, feel free to pass them along...just make sure they are something that we can publish in a family paper.

If you're looking for hope in dismal job numbers, here's a trickle of it, mixed in with unsettling numbers:

From the Associated Press:

"There are about 6.1 unemployed workers, on average, competing for each job opening, a Labor Department report shows. That's down slightly from 6.2 last month, the most since the department began tracking job openings nine years ago.
It's a sharp increase from only 1.7 workers per opening when the recession began in December 2007.
The department's Job Openings and Labor Turnover survey said employers advertised about 2.5 million job openings at the end of September, up slightly from the previous month. That's down from a peak of 4.8 million openings in June 2007."

I realize that's not the greatest news. But it's on the right track.

The hope is that businesses will have no choice but to start hiring again, once they've trimmed production and labor to the point that they can't be trimmed any more.

Here's some news we came across late Friday:

PASADENA - East West Bancorp Inc, parent company of East West Bank, announced Friday that it has acquired the banking operations of San Francisco-based United Commercial Bank in a Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.-assisted transaction.

Under the terms of the transaction, Pasadena-based East West will receive $10.4 billion in assets, including $7.7 billion in loans, and assume $9.2 billion in liabilities, including $6.5 billion in deposits of UCB. The FDIC and East West have entered into a loss sharing agreement covering substantially all acquired loans.

The attractive transaction creates the second largest independent bank headquartered in California and the largest bank in the nation focused on serving the Asian American community. East West, with more than $19 billion in assets, operates 137 branches worldwide, including 112 branches in California and 21 branches in key markets across the country, including New York, Atlanta, Boston, Houston, and Seattle.

East West operates four full-service branches in Greater China, including two branches in Hong Kong, and branches in Shanghai and Shantou. The bank also has representative offices in Beijing, Guangzhou, Shanghai and Shenzhen, China, and Taipei, Taiwan.

The Shanghai, China, subsidiary of United Commercial, was also part of the transaction. The agreement between the FDIC and East West Bank will not affect the normal business operation of UCB-China. East West Bank will extend support to UCB-China where necessary.

"This is a transformational event for both institutions and represents an exciting growth opportunity for East West," East West President and CEO Dominic Ng said. "East West and UCB share a rich cultural heritage. For East West, the transaction strengthens our presence in key markets throughout the U.S. and Asia and is another important milestone in realizing our vision to be recognized as the premier bridge between east and west."

Well, I was sure played for a sucker.

On Thursday I posted a heartfelt take on the saga of the "balloon boy." At the time, the whole story had yet to come out, although in the heat of the moment it seemed fairly credible (stupid me). But as we all know, it turned out to be a hoax. The kid was never in the balloon and the whole thing was nothing more than Richard Heene's ploy to try to secure a TV reality show.

The only reality show Heene is likely to secure now might be called, "Richard Heene: How to Decorate an 8-by-10 Prison Cell."

Enough said.

There aren't many news stories that literally grab me by the lapels and shake my equalibrium.

But Thursday's coverage of Falcon Heene's journey - or at least what we all thought was a journey - was one of them.

The plot was simple but bizarre: An innocent 6-year-old boy climbs aboard his father's saucer-shaped helium balloon and said balloon lifts off into the sky. That's the account his older brother gave.

It turned out not to be true - luckily.

But for two hours and 50 miles I was on pins and needles, as I think millions of other Americans were. As the balloon made its way across two counties - powered by a jet stream that sent it spinning at times and dipping at others - the tension built.

And along the way, speculation grew that the boy may have fallen from the makeshift craft. That made the end of the journey all the more heart-wrenching when the balloon bumped gently down in a dirt field and the passenger compartment was found to be empty.

But as we all know, it turned out the boy was safe at home the whole time, hiding in a
cardboard box in the garage rafters. Hiding as 6-year-old boys are wont to do.

So what are we to take from all of this?

I really don't know. Maybe it's simply a message of what might have happened. Maybe we just need to realize that life matters - really matters.

So what's my business angle on this? I guess I don't have one. But I know I'm going to give my daughter a hug when I get home.   

Well, it seems like there's more than a few people out there who are upset over the transtion to digital TV.

On Sunday, we published a story  about problems people are having with their digital converter box - bad reception, pixelated picture, no sdignal at all, lack of channels...

On my voice mail there were a few more -- including the inability to record shows at one time while watching another show.

Here are a couple of links. Hopefully, they'll help a little in your troubleshooting....

http://tv.about.com/od/frequentlyaskedquestions/a/watchrecorddtv.htm

http://www.fcc.gov/cgb/consumerfacts/troubleshootguide.html

If you are a professional looking for work, and you'd rather pound the pavement for work on Labor Day than grill a burger, you might want to attend the Pinkslip Mixer in Pasadena.

From 2 to 5 p.m. at a spot called Bar Celona, 46 E. Colorado Blvd., organizers are planning a multi-city/state job mixer, bringing together other Pinkslip mixers in other cities and state via live video streams and online media.

At the very least, it's a chance to mix with people in the same boat - unemployed or underemployed. And it could mean a chance to talk to a recruiter.

I attended one myself, and ended up doing a story on it. It seemed like a great way to make contacts, and share your job experience with others. The idea is to "pay it forward." You can look out for jobs that might fit people you meet. And they'll do the same for you.

Go to...

http://pinkslipmixers.com/

I received a press release on tax relief extentions for people affected by the wildfires. Check this out:

Release:

"Michelle Steel, Third District Member of the State Board of Equalization (BOE), and Steve Shea, Fourth District Acting Member of the BOE, today announced that extensions for filing, audits, billing, notices, assessments and relief from subsequent penalties are available for those individuals and/or businesses impacted by the wildfires in Los Angeles County.

 A state of emergency was declared in Los Angeles County as a result of the wildfires.

 Emergency relief for taxpayers and fee payers may include extensions for filing returns or payments, relief of interest and penalties, and copies of BOE tax records...."

There's more...

Call Taxpayer Information Center at 800-400-7115. If calling from outside of the 48 contiguous states, please call 916-445-6362 to reach our Call Center. TDD service is also available for the hearing impaired at 800-735-2929 and 800-735-2922 from voice phones. BOE representatives are available to assist tax and fee payers Monday through Friday (except state holidays) from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. (Pacific Time), or visit the BOE website: www.boe.ca.gov.

How many recent government programs can you point to that have worked - I mean really worked?

Think about that for a minute.

Put down your TV remote (unless your're watching "Ice Road Truckers") and mull that one over. Because nothing much comes to mind for me. They tried to help U.S. banks by funneling scads of money to them in hopes that they'd begin giving out more loans again. But credit's still about as tight as it's ever been.

And then there's the government's strategy to provide big stimulus money for infrastructure projects throughout the nation. Well, I've yet to see much happening there either. But this Cash for Clunkers thing really took off.

The program, which ended Monday, offered car buyers rebates of $3,500 or $4,500 for trading in older vehicles for new, more fuel-efficient models. Ever notice how some of the best ideas are the simplest ones?

From the second it was announced, it was obvious were going to be lots of takers. And aside from the fact that the criteria was slightly tweaked early on - which prevented some vehicles from conforming to the government's "clunker" standards - this program went really well.

How well, you ask?

Transportation officials said through early Monday, dealers had submitted 625,000 vouchers totaling $2.58 billion. Yes, that's BILLION with a B. Dealers are still waiting to be paid for their participation in the program, and I have no doubt that they will be paid because this has given the auto industry - and our economy as a whole - a welcome boost.

So I say bravo! It looks like the government finally got something right.

The economy is not out of the woods when it comes to foreclosures.

Here's a press release I received on an upcoming event that may help:

Rep. Napolitano, Assemblywoman Norma Torres to hold foreclosure
prevention fair in Pomona.

Rep. Grace F. Napolitano and Assemblywoman Norma Torres will hold a
foreclosure prevention fair in Pomona on Saturday, Aug. 29,
featuring talks by Napolitano, Torres, and Attorney General Jerry Brown,
one-on-one foreclosure and credit counseling in both English and
Spanish, workshops on buying homes and avoiding fraud, and booths
hosted by the Department of Housing and Urban Development, the Department of
Consumer Affairs, the cities of Norwalk and Montebello, and other
organizations. The fair will run from 8:30 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. at the
Village Conference Center, 1444 E. Holt Ave, Pomona. The fair is
completely free and open to the public. Those interested in attending
should register by calling (909) 984-7741 or going to
www.assembly.ca.gov/torres, and bring along mortgage and financial
documents with them if they are looking for a consultation.