Global contraction. "First time since WWII"

As in global economic contraction.

Again, not that this actually passes as news for anyone paying the least bit of attention, but interesting nontheless as a study in media and institutional behaviors in a crisis:

World Bank Says Global Economy Will Shrink in ’09
By EDMUND L. ANDREWS 3:19 PM ET
In a bleaker assessment than those of most private forecasters, the World Bank predicted a shrinking of the global economy for the first time since World War II.

Thus does reality slowly seep in from all directions.....

One note on 'private forecasters': they almost all have conflicted interests, pricipally either corporate (see NAR), ideological (see AEI), or ummmmm, errrr, legal (see AIG). Not that the World Bank is noticeably stellar....