What, exactly, are they talking about? Let us consult the Wiki.

V-shaped recession: “The economy suffers a sharp but brief period of economic decline with a clearly defined trough, followed by a strong recovery.”

U-shaped: “Longer than a V-shaped recession, and has a less-clearly defined trough. GDP may shrink for several quarters, and only slowly return to trend growth.”

W-shaped: A “double dip” recession, occurring when the economy “emerges from (a) recession with a short period of growth, but quickly falls back into recession.”

L-shaped: “The economy has a severe recession and does not return to trend line growth for many years, if ever…This is the most severe of the different shapes of recession.”

Some have also talked about a J-shaped recovery. But at this point, any recovery might just be termed “A-OK.”

The real issue is the ongoing con job. Team Obama has made it clear that it sees restoring confidence as paramount, when anyone with consumer marketing experience will tell you that advertising campaigns that make exaggerated claims about the product often don’t simply fail (as in customers see through the hype) but often backfire (buyers discount future ad messages about the product). The press has had a manipulated feel (with) misleadingly positive stories with Panglossian headlines and upbeat initial paragraphs that are often undercut by other material in the same article.

So in our new branding, “the economy is no longer in a freefall” has become “recovery.” The self-congratulatory tone among US financial regulators (who should instead be engaging in serious self-recrimination for failing to foresee and prevent this crisis) is premature. The financial system has been patched up and put back together with considerable continued official support, and more important, policies in place that allow banks to go back to the craps table with the taxpayer sopping up any mess. This is not a sound foundation for growth.

If we could only come up with a slogan for our woes that raises hopes—but not expectations. Howzabout: “America—stay tuned.”

Speaking of Stliglitz, he’s also the former Chief Economist for the World Bank who became a whistle-blower of sorts after he criticized the IMF for what he characterized as destructive and doctrinaire free-market policies. Check out his Columbia University page for an archive of speeches going back to his World Bank days.